Greed's Despite
by PursuitofDarkness
Summary: The story of Sword Art Online viewed trough the eyes of a new player to game. Shirou Ooyama, a 17 year old gamer that decides to follow the footsteps of the clearer group, the only thing missing being the experience he needs to survive. Since he has not experienced the beta test he often gets the help of informants, leading him to the path to be on par with the Black Swordsman.
1. First Movements

Prologue

A dark chamber without any bright lights, just the multitude of green and red leds beeping in silence. On the desk, near the still opened monitor, is a small device, seemingly similar to a fancy head-piece. A faint blue light is pulsating a the edge of it, less than a centimeter away from the power chord, signaling that it is working, installing a piece of software into the hard drive. On the still lit screen multiple tabs could be seen opened at the very top of the browser, every one of them containing information regarding an online game that launched just a couple of hours ago. Flashy images, presentation after presentation, information regarding the safety of the console on which the game was released, and even facts stated by the beta testers that played a portion of the game already. Near the closed window I lye on the unkept bed, the sheets feeling slightly uncomfortable underneath me. I look up at the ceiling, unable to move a single muscle in my body. I stood in row for hours in an attempt at securing myself one of the 10.000 copies of the game, which I gladly succeeded. I move my fingers in front of my face, making a fist, then spreading my fingers in front of me. I repeat this action two more times and I get a up from my bed. The game should be ready to play by now, but the servers open at exactly 1PM, 2 minutes from now. Another 115 seconds and I will be able to play it, the backbone of modern gaming, the game which is bound to be the leader of a new army of games, the army of Virtual Reality Games. «Sword Art Online».

Chapter 1 – First Movements.

With a slight numbness I open my eyes revealing the deep colors of the city that I was in right now, The Starting City, as many call it, although I do not know it's real name. I can see players connect one after another, some of them looking around, others eagerly running around, the majority doing so aimlessly. Just a few of them knew what they were doing, buying potions and crystals from the beginning to cut some of the time required in traveling back to town. I, myself was a total beginner so, like everyone here, I first tried to look around, but after some time I realized that it was useless unless I actually knew what I needed, leading to the single possible choice. Going outside for the first time, outside of the city, into the wilderness of this MMO. I moved as I did in real life so that must mean that my stamina is the same as in reality, or at least my body percepts it as that. Even so, I ran trough the crowded streets, the fatigue being minimal. Highly decorated shops and merchants were everywhere moving around, selling and advertising items, much like normal humans, but those were NPC's, nothing more than an artificial intelligence given specific scrips regarding what to do. From time to time I would see my reflection as I ran, every time feeling as if I saw another person, but this was me, the me from this simulated reality. Yes, this feels more real than some of the sluggish moments of daily life. As I thought so I suddenly arrived at my destination, the gate leading outside of town.

It's arcade was impressive, highly decorated with shining gold branches that stretched troughout the whole construction. The base of it was pure gold, lightly deviating the rays of sun passing it. A great wall rises on either side of the gate protecting the still empty homes in the city. I read about it, but this game allows one to buy a house, furnish it as they please, they even included marriage. But those things were not on my mind at that moment. I wanted to fight something, to gain experience trough actual battle with the beasts of the wild. Thinking as such I ran even faster than before outside of town in search for my first opponent, which I did not find for quite a while.

At least an kilometer from the Starting Town I found the first victim, a wild boar which seemed to eat the virtual grass in front of him, not minding me even one bit. With a small noise I unsheathed my weapon, a large two handed greatsword, the training weapon Isalgon, and proceeded in swinging it downwards, piercing the back of my target which manages to let out a sharp squeel and quickly moves away from me, preparing for an attack. I do not want to loose HP form my very first battle so I move my sword in front of me, balancing it in place with the help of my both hands. The attack comes as a straight charge with his sharp fangs slightly tilted to the left, letting me know he will swing them right with full force once he gets close enough. I parry the move as predicted and use the force from the attack to swing my sword in full circle cutting trough my enemy as he tried to recuperate after his move was parried. With a short delay the boar shatters into pieces spreading everywhere, disappearing as they touched the ground. The small message box in front of me displayed the following: "Wild Boar lv. 1" and below the sum of 35 Col and 27 experience points could be seen, no item drop. Not bad for the first kill of this game, considering that my HP was still at 100%. This is actual combat in a virtual game. The feeling that you get when you manage to kill something is exhilarating, an adrenaline rush, which is uncommon in real life. I sit down on the green grass surrounding me and watched other players as they were running around, killing monsters left and right. I should continue to move since I don't want to loose any of the fun, but at the same time I want to enjoy this scenery. I glanced at the open sky at the edge of my sight. It was just the illusion of one since above me is another level of the castle. Even so, I still believe it is a small piece of sky, and with that thought I lied on the grass behind me with my hands holding my head from the back.

"Why do I find this so exciting…?" I asked as I closed my eyes. Of course no answer would come, but I was still waiting for one. The answer that I will never get…

The sound of moving grass accompanied by a small grunt surprised me since it was so close by, but it must be that the boar that I just killed respawned. I unsheathed my greatsword at a moment's notice and used it as support for getting up. This was the perfect chance to try out the sword skills. I placed with my both hands the sword in front of me, concentrating at the move I was about to make, energy surging trough my hands into the swords itself, or so it felt. A light blue pulse from the handle of the sword, the sign that it was ready to be executed, I made a single step forward slicing from the side at an abnormal, inhuman speed hitting my target, sightly piercing the ground underneath it, causing massive damage to the wild boar that was throwed from the force of the swing at least one meter away. I could see the rage in his eyes as he prepared for a frontal attack, probably another charge type move. I knew it could be repelled from the last battle and with that… I place my sword in front of me as I did in the beginning, starting to concentrate on the move. I could hear the grass moving at the breeze of the wind and at the same time the boar started running towards me at the same speed as before, only that this time he was facing me directly, his sharp fangs reflecting slightly the light of the sun. As he was about half a meter in front of me I moved my sword with the same abnormal speed, the sword facing the ground in an instant and with a twist I swung it cutting the boar into two unequal pieces shattering the moment it was split. The message box appeared again in front of me. "Wild Boar lv. 1 / 40 Col / 32 EXP" could be read, only this time a new section could be seen even lower. "Item Drop: «Small Healing Potion»". A needed item if I would want to continue fighting, but right now I don't think that it is necessary, I thought as I placed it inside of my inventory, but shortly after I materialized it in the palm of my hand. A small bottle the size of my finger with a square shaped cap appeared. I touched it slightly with my fingers, every part of it feeling as if I was touching real glass. The true power of the FullDive system at work. A simulated sensation transmitted directly into my brain. A funny thought, but right now I am experiencing it. Putting the potion back into the inventory I head towards the town in order to get some quests, or maybe even make a couple of friends, start a guild and hunt with them. For now at least…

"I will kill every single pig that I find in my way back to town…" I said with a malefic smirk as I unsheathed my greatsword once more. "Heheh… You… YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY!" I shout as I use one of my sword skills «Slice» on the first boar I encounter. "Toryaaaaaaaaaa!" I shout as I made way trough the multitude of monsters in front of me, killing them with two or tree strikes each, one after another. Parry, kick, slash, slash, kick, parry, parry, slash, slash, kick, slash, punch, sword skill, parry, slash, and so on I advanced as I got weird but amazed looks from the players that were near me at the moment. I could hear things as "He is mad, don't you think…?" and "Look at him spin around… Amazing…", oh but things are just about to get heated since the monsters that were near the city did not spawn immediately, and now they are hundreds of them. "I will make cut straight trough!" I shout as the weird looks only accumulated as the city grew nearer and nearer.


	2. Announcement

Chapter 2 – Announcement.

"And with this… clear." I said in a mutter as I headed towards the NPC that will assure the end of the quest. With the exp from here I can level up to lv. 2. It was a good idea to go trough that pain of killing boars until the city since I got a huge chunk of the EXP bar cleared, but it did take two hours of hard grinding. At least I got some real combat experience, I think with a smirk as I walk through town. But then I heard someone say something… weird.

"This must be a joke, right?" shouted someone. "I need to log out, but I can't find the button!" he continued. This is strange since the log out button should be in the settings menu. I quickly try it out, entering the character menu, reaching my hand to the settings tab, but nothing is there. No log out button. The first day should have at least some bugs, but the lack of the most important feature in this game should not have any. Yes, the most important, since NervGear does not have any fail-safe log out function. But just as I thought all of this, a bell rang in the distance and moments after that, I was immersed into a pillar of blue light as my vision steadily blurred. A teleportation, that was all that I could think of, but I did not have any items that could have caused this, meaning it was perhaps an GM teleport? I did not know. I opened my eyes and found myself in the center of the town plaza, where many other players were, and many more continued to arrive via teleportation. It felt as if everyone that was logged on at that moment were in that place. You could hear from time to time someone say something, but nothing of particular interest, except the fact that from time to time the words "log out" could be heard. Then someone said with a low voice.

"Look… above!"

I did look up and noticed that something seemingly like a giant red dome could be seen on top of the city. At a closer inspection it could be read two phrases that made up the whole thing, [Warning] and [System Announcement]. This must have meant that someone, possibly, could come with an explanation for this, fact making the players quiet down. What happened next was unexpected and most of all the beginning of chaos.

From the middle of the pattern, a liquid similar to blood started oozing down slowly. It came down at a rate that almost emphasized how viscid it was; but it didn't fall down; instead, it started morphing into another shape.

What appeared was a twenty meter tall man with a hooded robe draped around him. No, that wasn't exactly right. From where we were looking, we could easily see into the hood—there was no face. It was absolutely empty. We could clearly see the inner cloth and the green embroidery inside of the hood. It was the same inside the robe; all we could see inside the rim were shadows.

This must be an GM, I thought, but the fact that he had no face what so ever was off putting.

Many people starting talking of it, but the truth was about to be revealed.

Then the right hand of the huge robe moved as if to silence them. A pure white glove appeared from the folds of the long sleeve. But this sleeve, like the rest of the robe, wasn't connected to any sort of body. Then the left arm slowly lifted upwards, too. Then with its two empty gloves spread out in front of ten thousand players, the faceless person opened his mouth—no, it felt like it did. Then a low and calm voice of a male resonated from high up in the air.

'Players, I welcome you all to my world.'

My… world, those words could not possibly be spoken by an GM, only the administrator, leaving me the conclusion…

'My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world.'

The creator of the NervGear and the developer of the game I was in right now. The creator of the virtual reality that I have immersed myself in for a couple of hours, until now. But he had always stood behind the scenes, refusing to be exposed to the media; he had never even been a GM—so why was he doing something like this?

'I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the log out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug, it is all part of «Sword Art Online»'s system.'

"A part… of the sistem…?" I muttered in a voice so low that I almost did not recognize it. The announcement continued in its low voice as if to cover the sound.

'Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will.'

This castle? I wondered for a second, but my thoughts were cut short again by the continuation of the announcement.

'...also, the discontinuation or dismantling of the NERvGear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these things are attempted...'

A moment of silence. The silence of ten thousand people was overwhelming. The next words came slowly.

'The signal sensors in your NERvGear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic functions.'

The shock was overwhelming, finding myself frozen in place, I did not even dared looking away from the red figure, floating in the center of the plaza. It was as if my mind was refusing to believe what had just been said. But Kayaba's short statement pierced through my body with a ferocity that was both hard and dense.

Destroy our brains.

In other words, kill us. Any user that turned the NervGear off or unlocked the clasp and took it off would be killed. That is what Kayaba had just stated.

People in the crowd started muttering, but there was no one shouting or panicking. It was either that everyone, like me, couldn't understand it yet, or refused to.

'To be a little more specific, dislocation from an outside source of electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours, or any attempt to unlock, dismantle, or destroy the NERvGear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through mass-media in the outside world. On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully get rid of the NERvGear. The result—'

The metallic voice took a short breath here.

'—regretfully 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world forever.'

A long, thin scream was heard. But most of the players couldn't believe it, or refused to believe what they had been told and just stood there slack-jawed, or with a wry smile on their faces.

My head tried to reject what Kayaba had just said. But my body betrayed it and my knees started shaking violently. I stumble a little as a result, but still managing to stay on my both legs.

My face could not possibly make any expression right now. Not even a grimace.

"...don't believe it... I don't believe it." I heard someone shout behind me. A weak voice, but the words were the exact same thing that I wanted to shout.

'Players, there is no need to worry about the bodies that you have left on the other side. As of this moment, all TV, radio, and internet media are all repeatedly reporting this situation, including the fact that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your NERvGear taken off has already all but disappeared. In a moment, using the two hours I have given, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So you can relax...and concentrate on beating the game.'

"Beating… the game?" my mouth shook violently as I spoke. "What sick idea is this?!" I yelled making myself heard over to the other players. "How can anyone fight in such circumstances?! THEY are afraid of fighting, WE are afraid of fighting!" I screamed with all the strength I could muster. This is no longer a game. I kept shouting, glaring at the red robe that had seeped out of the surface of the upper floor.

"This isn't a game anymore!"

Then Kayaba Akihiko started announcing silently with his monotonous voice.

'But I ask of you all to understand that «Sword Art Online» is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality...from now on, any form of revival in the game will no longer work. The moment that your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be gone forever, and at the same time—'

I could guess what he was going to say all too clearly.

'Your brain will be destroyed by the NERvGear.'

I let out a small chuckle, unable to contain my laughter within myself. I quickly glanced at the long horizontal line was shining at the top left corner of my vision. As I focused on it, the numbers 342/342 overlaid it.

Hit points. My life-force.

The moment it reaches zero, I will die—the electromagnetic waves will fry my brain, killing me instantaneously. This is what Kayaba had said.

This is without a doubt a game, a game with your life at stake. In other words, a death game.

That was what an RPG was, a sort of game where you keep dying and learning and leveling up. But now you can't? Once you die, you'll lose your life? And in addition—you can't even stop playing?

"...no freaking way," I muttered softly. Who in their right mind would go out onto the field with those conditions? Of course everyone would just stay inside the city where it was safe. Then as if reading my, and maybe all the other players', mind, the next message was given.

'Players ,there is only one way to be freed from this game. As I have said before, you must get to the top of Aincrad, the one hundredth floor, and defeat the final boss that resides there. All players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game. I give you all my word.'

Ten thousand players stood in silence.

It was then that I realized what Kayaba had meant when he had said «get to the top of this castle». This castle—meant the huge monstrosity that had imprisoned all of the players on the first floor with ninety-nine more floors stacked on top of the others, towering into the sky while floating in it. He was talking about Aincrad itself.

"100… floors…" the words escaped my mouth in a split of a second. I have read of it before, an article posted by the beta testers of the game. They only managed to clear 7 floors in a matter of two months, and that with the possibility of a respawn system. Without that…

The strained silence eventually gave way to low murmuring. But there was no sign of fear or despair.

Most people here would still be confused about whether this was a «real danger» or a «seriously warped opening event». Everything Kayaba had said was so horrifying that it felt unreal. I craned my head back to look at the empty robe and tried to force my mind to accept this situation.

I can no longer log out, ever. I can't go back to my room, my life. The only way that I would get them back was when somebody defeated the boss on the highest floor of this floating castle. If my HP reached zero even once during that time—I would die. I would die a real death and I would be gone forever.

But.

However much I tried to accept these as facts, it was impossible. Just five or six hours ago, I was eating with a couple of my friends in the cafeteria, every one of them making fun of me for staying up until late at night to get my hands on a video game, then I met with the administrator of the building in which I was in, giving me a cupcake as she left the building in a hurry, afterwards going straight into my room. Now I can't go back to all that? And this is now the real reality?

Then, the red robe that had always been one step ahead of us swept its right glove and started speaking with a voice void of all emotion.

'Then I will show you evidence that this is the only reality. In your inventories, there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this.'

As soon as I heard this, I pressed my finger and thumb together and pulled downwards. All the players did likewise and the plaza was filled with the ringing sound of bells. I pressed the item button on the menu that had just appeared and the item was there, at the top of my belongings list.

The name of the item—«hand mirror»

Why did he give us this? Even as I wondered I tapped on the name and pressed the "make into object" button. Immediately afterward there was a twinkling sound effect and a small rectangular mirror appeared. I grabbed it hesitantly but nothing happened. All that it showed was the face of the avatar that I had gone through a lot of trouble to make.

—Then.

Suddenly the avatars around me were engulfed in white light. As soon as I took this in, I was surrounded too and all I could see was white. Almost 2, 3 seconds later, the surroundings reappeared just as they had been... No. Something was wrong. I never looked at the faces of the players near me, but I could notice that there were not the same as before. The perfect faces that they once wore were now perfectly realistic, some of them suffering even from shape change, some of the being way shorter than they used to be, some of them seemed to have gained a lot of weight, and others changed their gender, the majority from female, to male.

I quickly looked into the mirror that I still kept into my hand but the face of my avatar has also changed, in exchange I obtained my former face, my real face. Then I was gripped by a sudden foreboding and realized what Kayaba's present, the «hand mirror», meant.

The calm face of a warrior that «Shima »,the name of my avatar, had had even a few seconds ago was no longer there. It was possible, making all the avatars of the players an almost perfect polygon replica of themselves. The purpose of this was also almost too clear now.

"...reality," I muttered. "He said that this was reality. That this polygon avatar...and our HP was our real body and our real life. In order to make us believe, this he's produced a perfect copy of us..." I talked to myself. At that moment my thoughts were interrupted once again by the continuation of the announcement.

'You will all most probably be wondering 'why.' Why am I—the creator of both the NERvGear and SAO, Kayaba Akihiko—doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us?'

It was then that Kayaba's voice, which had been emotionless up to now, seemed to show some signs of emotion. Suddenly the word «empathy» passed through my mind, even though there was no way that would be true.

'None of these is the reason I am doing this. Not only that, but now for me, there is no longer a reason or a purpose in doing this. The reason is because...this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. To create and watch this world is the only reason I have created the NERvGear and SAO. And now, everything has been realized.'

Then after a short break, Kayaba's voice, now emotionless again, sounded.

'...now I have finished the official tutorial for «Sword Art Online». Players—I wish you luck.'

This last sentence trailed off with a faint echo. The huge robe rose soundlesly, and started sinking, hood first, into the system message that covered the sky, as if melting. Its shoulders, then its chest, then its two arms and legs merged into in the red surface, and then a final red stain spread briefly. Right afterward, the system message that had covered the sky disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. The sound of the wind blowing above the plaza and the BGM that the NPC orchestra was playing came softly to our ears.

The game had returned to its normal state, apart from the fact that a couple of rules had been changed.

Then—at last.

The crowd of ten thousand players gave a proper reaction. In other words, countless voices started to resound loudly through the plaza.

"It's a joke right...? The hell is this? It's a joke right!?"

"Stop kidding around! Let me out! Let me out of here!"

"No! You can't! I've got to meet someone soon!"

"I don't like this! I'm gonna go home! I want to go home!"

Yells. Clamors. Shouts. Curses. Begging. And screaming.

The people that had changed from game players to prisoners in a matter of minutes crouched clutching their heads, waved their arms about, grasped each other or started to swear loudly.

In the midst of all this noise, strangely my mind became cool again.

This, is reality. Yes. From this moment forth this is the reality that we, the 9,787 players still alive, were forced into accepting, or perhaps it is better said, we were trying to accept.

What Kayaba Akihiko had declared was all true. If this was the case, this was all to be expected. It'd be strange not to. This genius was one side of Kayaba that made him alluringly attractive.

I looked around, but every person that I laid eyes upon was terrified, not one of them was moving in a straight line, except for two figures that immediately ran away from the crowd as the barrier was lifted. I decided to follow their lead and head outside the city. If all of it was true, and it must be, that means that I need to get stronger in order to live in this world from now on, even if leveling up in this conditions could lead to death.

"I won't die." I said as I was sprinting trough the empty streets of the city. A smile slowly creeped its way on my face, the smile of a man accepting his fate.


	3. Quest and Level

Chapter 3 – Quest and Level

"Yo, Argo." I said as I tapped the shoulder of the cloaked player in front of me. She stopped and slowly turned her head, facing me. I could not see the top part of her head, including her eyes, her hood covering it. What I could see was the black stripes that were drawn on both of her cheeks, making them seem as whiskers. The female player in front of me was none other than «Argo, the Rat», the first information dealer in «Sword Art Online». With a short movement she shook my hand off of her and placed the palm of her hand at a distance of 5 centimeters from my face.

"Sexual harassment, 100 col" she said with a small tint of a smile as she pointed her fingers at me, but soon afterwards she lowered her arm and let out a big sigh "I don't have anything worthwhile this time, just information that you should already know by now." She said lowering her head a little and making a movement as if to get away from me.

I followed her until we reached a house, inhabited by NPC's of course, just after that she aligned her back on the nearby wall and said in a low voice.  
"1.000 col, it is valuable information and hard to find at that."

This is how she works, if she says that she has no information she must have something she does not want to share with others, that's why I decided to follow her. Since I am not as familiar with this game as much as the beta testers I often seek all the information I can possibly get from anywhere, that way, finding the best places for hunting and some of the best quests. For a week now I have been in touch with Argo for valuable information such as the one that I am offered right now. I don't mind paying for the info I get as long as I can get my money off of it.

"Sure." I said as I opened the trade menu and inserting the 1.000 col into the box, then pressing the blue, round button, finishing the trade. After the end of the deal, Argo, used her hands to separate herself from the wall and with a loud sigh she started talking.

"West from here, if you take the road leading trough the jungle, there is a small town. You can take a quest from there that will assure you the best weapon that you could get on this floor, well except for the weapon dropped by the boss. It is not an easy quest, I warn you. You should take at least some potions or crystals with you. From the look of your equipment it seems that you are using the hunting spots that I suggested." After this she paused a little, looking at me from head to toes and then continued. "You should be fine with this equipment." She said as she began leaving as I did just the same. As we reached the plaza of the town I could hear her words as the sound of people talking and walking around intensified.

"Make sure you don't die. It would be bad to loose one of my customers."

With that she made her way trough the stream of people, heading towards the exit. The NPC's in this area are more active than the ones in the Starting City. As a matter of fact they often get out of their houses and do simple chores around, leading to many repeatable quests, but the EXP they give no longer influence me.

In a matter of two weeks I managed too make it to level 6, but I couldn't have done it without some help from Argo. When we first met I was wandering around in one of the towns that were close to the Starting City, looking for quests. Probably because she wanted to make some easy col from me the first thing she said was:"For 500 col I will give you some info on leveling quests around here." Thinking back on my meetings with her, there was no conversation not to start with a price. Not even when the info was free. But thanks to her I am on par with the early starters that probably were beta testers. With that I walk amongst the NPC's that gathered in the central plaza, looking for supplies for my journey to come.

Healing crystals, potions, I need to be prepared for everything that could happen, even more so as I am a solo player.

In those two weeks that have passed since the day we were announced that we no longer can get in contact with the real world more than 1.000 players have died. Some of the players still alive have chosen to wait in the Starting City, being afraid of facing the monsters outside of the safety of the walls. Nobody can blame them for that decision, not since death in game means death in real life. But I made my mind regarding this matter. I will fight until I clear this game or die at the hand of a monster. Both of them are plausible, but the latter has the bigger possibility of happening. In those two weeks that have passed a bit more than half of the first floor was explored. This fact scares players beyond anything else, but it also means that we made a little bit of progress. I do not know how many years will have to pass to finish this game, and it does not matter. I aim for it. The end of this nightmare.

—But until then.

"Good day." I speak to a nearby vender, getting his attention. It is an old man, with mustache and everything. A classic NPC inspired from the old online games. His voice brings a warm welcome and the trade window is displayed, showing all the items he has to offer. I inspect the details of every potion and decide to take 10 over-time healing potions and press the buy button. With a word of joy the old trader returns to his business. But…

As I leave the area I see a hooded player walking towards me. It is a male player, around 20 years old, I cannot see his face. As a weapon I see on the side of his trousers something similar to a butcher's knife. Underneath the robe I could see his smile, his white teeth showing as he watched me from beneath the hood. I did not know why but all of my senses told me he was dangerous. It seemed that even the flow of time has stopped as we walked toward each other, I couldn't even hear the BGM anymore. I was frightened. It did not occur to me before that in this game even PK was possible. We were facing each other now, both of us still walking. At that moment I instinctively moved away from him as we passed one another. As soon as I did not saw him anymore I managed to get a grip on myself, but with three words I lost it again.

"See you later."

I heard him in a whisper, loud enough only for me to hear. I almost stopped dead in my tracks, but I managed not to falter. He did not stop either. 'He is dangerous' I thought as I felt again that moment a couple of second ago when I first saw him. I should stay clear of players like him, but still there are times when I could meet him outside of town. That would be bad, very bad. For the first time since that announcement, I doubted myself. I doubted that playing solo was the right choice anymore. But who. Who could I get myself to join a party with? Since I do not interact much with others I do not know how I should act, or what should I say.

"For now… maybe I should get something to eat." I say in a low voice as I sence my stomach growling. Even inside this game, the need to eat is there, same with exhaustion, but they are illusions made up by our brains. That does not mean we should not obey them, since the lack of food or sleep can affect our concentration while fighting.  
"To stay alive…" I mutter in silence as I head towards a shop that sells bread.

The lowest price is 1 col, but the bread tastes rather blanc, at least setting our hunger. I decide to take a 10 col piece, this one tasting more like normal bread. I buy it, and wander around town for a peaceful place to sit while eating. I need to get that guy out of my head at least.

After about 10 minutes I find a church that has view over the whole valley. Entering the building I see no one inside, the wooden benches facing the altar looking a little bit old but not even a spec of dust was present on them. The windows made of stained glass filtered the rays of the sun, making it seem like a true holy place. The candles on each side of the walls were not lit, but they gave the impression of antique. I saw a couple of stairs made of white stone at the edge of my vision on the right, perhaps leading towards the top of the bell tower. Without any reason to hesitate, I climb them with great speed and soon I am faced with the landscape stretching in front of me. Forests, cities and paths throughout the wildland, I could see them all. At the edge of the terrain I could see clouds spreading far into the sky and straight up, the stone ceiling on which the layout of the second floor is situated. I open my inventory screen and walk towards one of the edges of the tower and sitting on it, I materialize the bread in the palm of my hand. I bite a little bit as my sight wanders around.  
"Here is peaceful." I say in a low voice as I close my eyes for a second, enjoying the taste of the bread.

—But then.

I sense a small pain in my back focused on a single point. No. I am wrong. The pain is spreading fast on my back starting from that point, seemingly making the form of an object. After a short delay I realize what was causing it, but it is too late. Within a second I slipped from the place I was sitting and started falling. Actually, I believe that the word slipped is not properly used in this situation. As a better word to describe the action I will use the word 'pushed'. I was 'pushed' from the bell tower of the church by a player that managed to land a kick on my lower back. As I realize this I am faced with the hard concrete of the streets of the city. I could hear the voice of a female player as my face met the coldness of the digital terrain.

"That's what you get for stealing my spot!" I heard her say.

That is addressed to me right? Isn't it? Enraged as I lost my bread —breaking in this instant into small pieces resembling glass right in front of me as it touched the ground— I get up and look towards the place I was a couple of seconds ago. Something that seemed as a small figure from this distance stared right at me. I watch the bar on the edge of my vision, on the top left, to see that about 20% or more of my HP was gone from that fall. Without any delay I jump on top of the nearest house and from there straight to the edge of the bell tower, grabbing the ledge and facing the person in front of me.

"Well, that was fast." The player in front of me said as soon as she saw my face, not moving even a little bit, probably because of shock. Her curly, cyan hair met her skin at the edge of her lowered shoulders, the armour she was wearing being one of the lightest ones in the game, letting enough space for moving freely in it. Looking at her figure I could say that she was about the same age as me. She was actually pretty beautiful, but that did not matter to me at the moment since I wanted to avenge my bread. The first words that I said to her being:

"I **COULD** have **DIED**!" I yelled at her as I made sure to underline the words 'could' and 'died'. Her expression changed into a frown, but she did not object to what I said, she just stood silent. Seeing no movement what so ever I put my legs on the ledge and let them drop onto the floor of the tower. "If I was with 4 levels lower I would have certainly died." I let the words out as I sat once again in my original place. Even if this is a safe-zone, the «Fall Damage» that we get from falling from hight places is still in effect. I heard that this is a common way of suicide, used in the Starting City.

"I am sorry." A short and low voice announced those words. If she was not in front of me for visual confirmation I would have concluded that that was the voice of a child being scolded by his parents. To be honest, I found it a little bit cute, but I would not let it get to me.

"Well, I did not come back to scold your behavior as a player, but to avenge my bread." I said with a tone that could be easily mislead as being a heroic one, or something similar, the purpose of this sentence being to lighten the atmosphere between the two of us.

"Your… bread…" she slowly repeated what I said, looking completely dumbstruck, but soon after, she started laughing.

"You are an interesting one." She said as she managed to calm down. "I am «Elise». Nice meeting you." She said with a large smile thrusting her hand towards me. I grabbed her hand into a handshake. Her skin was soft, but I could sense that her real strength was quite something. 'She must be at least the same level as me if not higher.' I thought as I replied. "You can call me «Shima». As well, nice to meet you." After I finished my line our hands separated and her voice could be heard once more.

"What were you doing here?" She said as she sat on the north edge of the tower.

"Obviously, trying to eat as I watched the scenery. But now I am left only with the later one." I answer as my sight trails off onto the distance once more.

"Hmmm…" I hear her as she starts moving towards me. I could also hear her inventory menu being dropped and the sound of her hand manipulating some options, probably on some item. One second later she pushes the side of her arm into my shoulder, trying to get my attention. "Here." She says handing me an item, a sandwich that must have costed at least 50 col. "I am sorry for wasting your bread." I could see that she also had one in her other hand so I accepted her offer.

"Thank you." I said as I gladly started eating the sandwich, but as I do so, I get an idea.

"Hey…" I say making her look towards me. "What do you say? Could you help me with a quest?"

* * *

**Yo. Mike here. The fourth chapter will be published as soon as it is finished (in a week or so), the chapter being perhaps the longest I ever managed to write. Also I would like some reviews and suggestions, good or bad. I hope that this chapter was good enough, but sorry for the lack of action. Oh, and also I will update from time to time the cover, as I am about to put in some colour (I don't like blanc drawings... funny because what I do the most is sketching...), so stay tuned for that. Other than that... nope, nothing. See you guys later.**


	4. Killing means closure

Chapter 4 – Killing means closure

"Get on the left!" I shout as I jump behind the monster that was in front of me. It is an insectoid type, I could clearly see its name, «Blue Mantis», as I jumped over it, but right now that is not my main concern. Right in front of me another two of those things charged in my direction with amazing speed. I side-step to avoid one of them and use the sword skill «Upward Strike» on the next one, slicing trough its arms, cutting them both down, leaving the monster with ridiculously low HP. I decide to ignore this one and dash into the direction of the second one that failed in touching me. As I did so, I quickly shot a glance in the direction of my other party member. She had no trouble at all dodging the countless attacks that the «Blue Mantis» in front of her dealt. Actually it would seem to me that she was having fun, noticing her wide smile as she made her move. The blade that she used was a rare drop, a cutlas with the sharpened edge sharing a similar colour with her hair. She lyed low for a moment and then charged right at the neck of the insect, parrying the strikes that the beast dealt in an attempt to stop her, or it is best to say, to stop her blade from reaching its destination. I did not need to know the result of that battle, so I focused my attention the enemy at hand. As it dealt a vertical strike to the ground I dodged it by jumping to the left and dealing a short blow, without using a sword skill, aimed at its legs. To my surprise the monster jumped high into the air, dodging my attack and charging a skill at more than 4 meters into the air. I could see its blades shining bright red for a second and then, with a swift movement it dashed down at me with spectacular speed. I couldn't possibly dodge the attack in time so I placed my sword in front of me, in an attempt of parrying it. As I crouched down, my knees touched the muddy grass that represented the terrain of that particular area. But the insect did not manage to land. At a distance of nearly one meter away from me it received a jump-kick sending it into a nearby tree. A small, blue message box could be seen on the surface of the tree that the «Blue Mantis» crashed into. If I focused a little bit I could probably read the two words displayed inside the box saying [Immortal Object], meaning the impact had enough force to damage the environment. I slowly turn my head and look towards the player that gracefully landed near me. I guess she finished the one that I left defenceless and came in my aid.

My sight instinctively reached the edge of my vision where I could see not one, but two health bars. The name of the player that was displayed at the beginning of the second one, it read «Elise».

To think that she actually accepted my offer… She must be an odd fellow…

"Why are you spacing out in the weirdest of moments?" she said hitting me lightly with the back of her free arm.

"I am not!" I responded immediately as I began charging a sword skill aimed at the still stunned monster in front of us.

"Wow… you are fast to deny it." She said with a smile as she also charged a skill.

"I said that I did not!" I shout as I dash towards the insect that started to regain its composure.

"Haha… you did it again!" I heard her laugh from besides me, lounging at the same target as me.

Within a second after both of our blades cut trough the monster a small result box appeared showing the following: "«Blue Mantis» lv. 7 x3/ 387 col / 568 EXP / 1 item". I slowly open the inventory screen to see that I had a new piece of equipment inside. «Blue Moss Jacket» was the name of the item, but seeing that the stats were actually a little bit lower that what I was currently wearing, I decide to give it to Elise, if she needed it.

"Hey, Elise, what did you get?" I ask her as I kept my inventory screen open.

"Nothing." She says with a voice showing no concern, slowly looking around. "Why?"

"Then, come here for a bit." I say as I press the "make into object" button on the jacket I just received. "Do you want this?" I ask as I show her the item and its stats.

"It is beautiful!" she says as she takes it out of my hand to take a better look at it. She looked excited as she rises the jacket over her head. "Can I have it?" She asks me as I nod, smiling at her. After a couple of seconds she opens her character screen and with a press of a button the coat that she was wearing bursts into a short blue light just to be replaced by the new one that she just received. She twists a few times and says while letting out a bit of her emotions "This one looks great and it also increases my speed of movement for a bit.". With that she turns on her heels and looks straight at me. "Thank you."

"If you want to thank someone, I think that should do so to the insects that we killed." I jokingly say as I start moving into the direction of the next city.

"I don't want to! It's creepy." She replies and follows my lead.

We walked like this for at least one day now, without any form of rest, killing all the monsters that stood in our way and surprisingly enough we did not have to use potions that often. We were heading towards a small hidden town in this jungle. As a matter of fact, this place should have been added after the beta, so most of the players around this part don't even know it exists. The quest that we should be receiving should be in that town. I think of some other small details and holes in my plan, but suddenly enough, I hear Elise softly singing a song that I was not familiar with, a lullaby perhaps.

_"Oh wild flower,_  
_Ah...could you tell me please,_  
_Why people hurt each other_  
_And fight?_

_Oh dignified flower,_  
_What can you see from there?_  
_And why can't people_  
_Forgive each other?"_

With that last line she trails off, but I could still hear her humming as she walked close behind me.

"What song was that?" I ask in a low voice, making in obvious I am interested in her singing. I could hear that she was no longer humming anymore, leading to a couple of seconds of silence.

"Did it bother you?" She apologetically asks, but I shake my head in response.

"No. I was impressed by how good your singing was and since I do not know the actual song I wanted to know at least the title."

I could hear only the sound made by our footsteps touching the digital grass as we kept walking. This continued for a while longer until I decided to break the ice. As I opened my mouth, no words managed to escape from inside of it as they were cut of by her weak voice.

"… don't know… I don't know it anymore…"

She stops. I realize it after about two more steps and I also stop, just to be pushed hard from behind by both of her hands, loosing my balance for a bit, making me move a step further. I turn around. She was smiling, to my surprise, but not like before. A plastic smile, meant to cover her real feelings, or so it seemed at the time.

"Come on, move it! You are the freakin' guide!" She jokingly says as she pushes me again with all her force.

"Yes m'am!" I shout as a soldier would, phrase leading to a slap on the back of my head. "What was that for?!"

"Don't treat me as a marine instructor!" I hear her comment my attitude.

"No, but you totally feel like one…" I mutter for myself.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing…"

*slap*

"What is it this time?!"

"You act suspicious."

"How is answering with "Nothing." suspicious?!"

And so on we continue with our crazy rambles. But I did regret one single thing as we continued our journey … I didn't hear her sing ever again.

* * *

"A mid-point settlement?" I hear Elise that was right besides me, dropping to her knees in an instant before continuing. "Here? In the middle of the jungle?!"

"Seems… like it." I respond with the same exasperate voice as her as I enter the safe-area. We arrived at a village, like no other I have seen. There were only a few houses, around 10, made out of carved wood on which green vines have arisen, making them seem a little bit antique. There were a couple of NPC's around, walking from here to there, minding their own business. This is literally a village in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey…" I hear Elise whisper to me, or at least it seemed that way. "Just how long do we have to keep going?" She continued as she used my jacket to pull herself up.

"I don't really know… maybe another couple of hours… or perhaps more…" I hesitantly say as I look around. In an hour or so it will get dark, not that I had something against that, but the person that was clinging to my jacket just moments ago would seem to think otherwise. We did walk for a whole day, to be honest, and including random fights to the mix didn't help too much. She must be exhausted.

I look around and I see, or perhaps I want to see, a big, tall building hidden by some huge bushes. Unlike the other houses around here, this one has no vines around it, making it seem a bit more maintained than the rest. I just hope that this is what I think it is. I look at the female player on my right and give her a light push forward into the direction of what appeared to me as being an inn.

"Come on, if I am right… and I hope I am… that, over there" I say as I point to the building that I described above, "is an Inn." I finish and start walking leaving the dumbfounded Elise behind.

After about three seconds…

"H-hey! Wait!" She shouts as she starts to jog in my direction.

I reach the front of the door. There are two unlit oil lamps hanging from each side of the doorway, other than that, nothing strictly unusual about it. I push the metal handle downwards and enter. To my relief I enter what seems to be a small reception hall, in front of us being an NPC situated beyond the counter. It was a female redemptioner dressed in what seemed to be some usual country clothes. She rarely moved. I walk in front of her without hesitation, stepping on the carpet that had a reddish-pink color, making the sounds made by my armour less noticeble.

"Good evening." I say to the woman in front of me getting her attention.

"Good evening. With what can I help you?" she asks in a polite manner. I find it funny how all the NPC's in the game have different personalities. Some of them are nice, some are jumpy, and some are… just plain annoying. I show a faint smile.

"We would like two rooms."

"I am afraid that is not possible."

"What?" I say in unison with Elise that is right besides me.

"We only have one spare room." Her gentle smile never wavered.

I glanced at Elise and Elise glanced at me. We either got here when a huge party of douchebags just settled in over night or this is just a little settlement in the middle of nowhere that has an inn with only one room available because not many people pass by. Sincerely, I cannot decide between the two.

"May I ask why is that so? I mean, this place is big enough for a couple of chambers, right?" I ask the NPC, hoping at least that I could solve this mystery.

"Yes, we do have three rooms in total, but two of them are already occupied."

I let out a big sigh.

So it was the first assumption after all, just that not so many douchebags.

"Yes... we will take the room." I heard a voice next to me. I turn to see Elise smiling at me as she received the key to the room. "You don't want to sleep outside, right?" She asks as she drags me with her. "You can have the chair or the floor, maybe the table even." I hear her laugh as she continued to pull my arm. I escaped her gasp and started walking after her, after a few more steps reaching the room. She opens the door and enters, leaving the door still open for me to come in.

The room was quite large, but to my surprise there was actually more than one bed. There were four beds in total, one next to the other as a matter of fact. In the middle of the room there was a table with six chairs and in the corner I could see a lone desk with a chair of its own. This was a room made to host parties, making the rent a lot cheaper. I was more than surprised actually by the fact that the NPC did not say that the spare room was meant to host more than one person! That little shit…

"There are a lot of douchebags in this world…" I mumble as I drop onto my bed, that I made sure to be at least one bed away from Elise's. "I am not even hungry anymore…" I continue my mutter while opening my character screen and unequipping my heavy clothes, leaving me in a black shirt and a pair of normal, gray trousers. How long has passed since I last slept? One, two… no, three days… and I could keep going, probably. But there is no need for me to keep pushing like this, not for now at least. I cover my eyes with the black sleeve of my shirt. I am tired. As if all of the fatigue that accumulated over the last few days came all at once, attempting to crush me under it.

"I am going to sleep." I say out loud so that Elise could hear me. "Go eat or something… to pass the time… you know."

Is all I manage to say before falling asleep.

* * *

I opened my eyes, slowly. In front of me is a wooden ceiling and underneath me is the soft mattress of the bed. I instinctively look at the shining bar on the top left of my vision. It's still there. "Shima; HP: 1430/1430; LV: 7". It brings with it a unconfortable truth, the fact that this is not reality. I don't like to sleep, mostly because when I wake up, I am remembered that I am still here, in this prison-like world. If I could, I would just forget that I have another self that is now probably lying in a hospital bed hooked up to machines that regulate the amount of enzymes in its body so that I can still function even without food or water. I am not running from the truth, it is just that I don't want to remember it. Even if you face the devil straight in the face you will certainly want to forget it. It is not running away… or at least I hope it doesn't count as such.

I get up. It is still dark outside and I try to refrain in using the clock in the system menu since it makes a lot of noise just to bring it up. I don't want to wake up someone to this side of reality just so I can check out the time…

I don't have anything to do, so I lay once again down into my bed.

"Hey… Shima, are you awake?" I hear a faint voice from across the room. I move myself in the direction of the sound. I could see that Elise was looking this way as she sat on her bed, tightly hugging her pillow.

"Yeah…" I faintly respond. "Why are you still up? I thought that today was enough of a struggle to make you sleep at least until morning. "

"I did sleep for some time, maybe a few hours, but…" after this she hid her face underneath the pillow that she was embracing still. "I am afraid."

Her words were not unexpected, but they still shocked me. 'I am afraid.' A phrase that should not have been there slowly nagged inside my head… a phrase that I hid from the very beginning. I did not dare letting it get out… because I thought that accepting it was wrong. Yet in that instant I let it out and with it all my hidden feelings.

"Me too…" My low voice stated almost sounding as if someone else said it. "Every time I get out of town… every time I unsheath my sword… every time I look at a monster. I am afraid. I am afraid of loosing me life here, but also, I am afraid of..." I leave the phrase unfinished, shocked at my own words. I let it out… I let it out in front of someone else… I let my true feeling leak trough my shell… the shell that I perfectioned for three whole years…

Surprisingly enough I heard a laugh coming from within her pillow. I look at Elise as she is now laughing so hard that she started facing the ceiling while gently hitting the mattress with her legs.

"What is so funny?!" I ask, annoyed at her reaction.

"I… haha… am sorry… *sigh*… for this." She stated as she managed to calm down, but her smile never wavering as she still let out little chuckles escape trough her nose. "It is just that… I am very happy."

"Happy?" I ask amazed once again by her reaction.

"Yep. Happy." She responds strangling her pillow. "I'm happy not being the only one who thinks that." She said once again laughing softly. "I know what you were about to say… " she claims as she hides her face from my eyes "… and I think the same thing." Deciding to finish her previous sentence she smiles weakly and turns to face me: "We are… comrads in despair I guess."

"Yeah… You are right." I speak with a smile myself.

"Someday… will you tell me? Your reason?" I hear her soft voice leaking out in the darkness of the chamber.

"Someday… when you will tell me yours."

We both smile at each other, both of us being more eager to sleep than we were before, now that we let our feelings get out. Too much fear and sadness in one place causes hilarity.

* * *

"Die!" I yell as I pierce the skin of the creature in front of me, making my sword sink into its body. I can feel it go deeper and deeper with every moment. The red light that leaks out of the wound that I am making now is blinding bright. The advance I made with my blade in the last second is enough to trigger another light, only this time it is a blue one. My blade moved with the help of the system, making a straight cut from the middle of the monster, the center of its lower body, going up to the head, flying out of its body with a strange sound.

The beast shattered into pieces as the result screen popped up. I dismiss it with my left hand as it had no item drop. In exchange I look at Elise.

She fights a single monster that was not in the group that I just finished. I sit down on the grass, away from the place where what I killed will respawn and just watch. Her cutlas strikes with a huge amount of ferocity, sending red sparks everywhere, making the grass shine for a moment as the light touched it. Even if her strikes seem savage, her hand moves gracefully, the technique being perfect. Parry here, strike there, don't let it breathe for more than a second. The battle in front of me had a rhythm of its own, like a symphony of blade clashes and squishy sounds left by the wounds inflicted. The HP of the monster was steadily approaching the red zone. After a perfect parry she let out a small battle cry as she slashed her target two with an abnormal speed then she started sheathing her cutlas. The result screen appeared before her as she enthusiastically looked trough her equipment. I seem to have made a bond with this player, even if I don't want to admit it.

"Nice work." I say to her as I get up and start walking onto the main road.

"Hey! Why didn't you help me if you finished first?!" She yelled at me from behind.

"You handled it even without my help." I shrugged as I kept walking. "I don't want to steal your EXP." I said letting out a small chuckle.

"Oh… Then thank… WAIT A SECOND!... EXP IS DISTRIBUTED EQUALLY IN A PARTY!" She yelled once again hitting me in the back of my head, making me stagger.

"Hey! If we weren't in a party your cursor would be orange by now for how many times you hitted me!" I reply to her as I resume walking.

"It is your own fault!" She says, sulking behind me as we continue our road.

Today it was peaceful, referring to the almost clear road leading to our destination. The monsters we encountered today can be counted on the fingers of our hands, though they were at least one or two levels higher than us. I look ahead, not even daring to let my vision astray from the path ahead.

To my utter surprise we reached our destination in only three hours, including a couple of battles. But I did not expect the sight ahead of me.

"A whole village… burnt down…" Elise lets it escape trough her lips. Yes. This is the place we are looking for. «The Inexistent Town Veleb». When I first heard the name in a detailed message from the «Rat» I thought it was merely hidden, not destroyed. I swallowed down my surprise and headed to the center of the town, Elise following me closely. We did not receive the advertisement that we have entered a safe-area so I had to be on guard for surprise attacks since this place is so insecure that it gives me chills. The houses were so devastated you could say that someone slice trough them with a gigantic sword made entirely of flames. Anybody could enter them, but I don't think that we could find anything to loot from inside. No NPC's were here, as if the place was dead. No. There was one. In front of a shattered monument someone was sitting there. A boy about 15 years old, his knees and hands being drenched into the soil underneath him, was kneeling. His hair no longer had color, only the ashes representing its lost color. The moment we got close enough to where he sat we could hear his voice, but a voice like no other I have heard before, an empty one.

"Did you come here to steal from our houses? Unfortunately you were too late, others came before you… I guess I can only say to you 'Bad Luck'. Now leave! Leave or kill me! I don't care either way."

I don't know how I should respond, but I guess it should be something classic. I guess I will roleplay a little bit.

I started to walk towards him, with each one of my steps I could hear the armour I wore shaking loudly. I unsheathed my sword and placed it next to his neck, the blade tilted in the direction of his chest. At this action I could hear Elise move a little bit, but she said nothing.

The boy slowly turned around, meeting my gaze.

"If I were to kill you, I would have done it without letting you speak one word." I say threateningly as I move the sword closer to his skin. "Who are you, boy?" I ask leaving the NPC in front of me slack-jawed. An A.I. so complex as his should give a proper reaction to roleplay executed perfectly, otherwise he would not respond at all, ignoring all attempts of communication. A not so '_easy_' quest indeed.

"M-Mathew… I am sorry for my rudeness earlier. I thought you were just another thief. A-Acting tough usually works…" the NPC responds, meaning my roleplay was good enough. In a couple of seconds, after some back story regarding the state of the town, a quest box appears before me. Inside of it are presented the whole story and request of the boy. I gladly accept it and turn to Elise. She is looking at me weird.

"I know I suck at roleplay but you don't have to be so off putted by my performance…" I say slightly disappointed.

"No… I am just amazed that you managed not to make a fool of yourself." She curtly replies as she also accepts the quest.

"I am taken too lightly, right?" I say perhaps to myself, starting to walk away from the kid, heading to one of the closest exits out of the ruined town. "Hurry up, will ya'? We have to kill 6 of those things." I state, pointing at a gigantic lizard at a distance of 300 meters in front of us. Sharp black spikes emerging from its back, making the illusion of a dark mane as the head of the beast was also black. The rest of the body was sharing a red and yellow color, making the fatal points easier to detect.

"I will attack from the front. You stay back and try to find some weaknesses and as soon you do we switch." I voice my strategy. From besides me Elise nods. She is already studying the creature as it moves around its spawn area.

"Here I go!" I shout as I dash to the lizard and strike its legs, making it stagger. Without delay it turns its back to me, certain I will attack once more, but I already saw trough that parry attempt. I make a backflip and get in front of it, striking it with a vertical skill as I land. Once again it turns around, only this time it uses his tail to shove me into a nearby tree. Unexpecting this move, I get hit, but I use my sword to block a portion of the damage. On the top left corner of my vision I notice that 30% of my HP was gone. Are you kidding me? This thing sure is over-powered. Two more attacks and I will die.

"Damn you!" I shout as I hit its tail, cutting it down. With a short growl the monster swung its back in my direction, every spike on it threatening to hit me. I nimbly dodge it and jump away. Focusing a moment, I charge aiming at its head. I successfully hit my target, but that strike alone was not enough to kill it. The health bar of the beast was at half its initial value.

"Switch me in!" I hear a voice from behind me shouting. "I know how we can deal with it. Use your «Upward Strike» to make it stagger, then, I will go for its legs. I hope we can make it tumble and, if I am right, it will remain stuck."

"Good thinking." I say as my blade starts to shine bright blue. With a single movement I slash the lizard in its lower chin, making it stagger. "Now! Switch! " I shout as I jump behind, letting Elise pass right next to me as she dashed straight for the legs cutting its whole right side, making it loose balance. With a loud thud, the monster falls to the side, but it does not tumble on its back like Elise hoped, but still… the beast dies as soon as its chest got perforated by one of her skills.

"Good. No we have to repeat that only 5 more times…" I say as a loud sigh escapes my mouth.

* * *

I laugh loudly as we enter the town once more, lightly throwing Elise one of the potions I had in my pouch.

"How… haha… how could you… haha" I can't finish my sentence properly. Elise is sulking right next to me as she takes out the square cap of the vial.

"You are laughing too much…" she says while she starts drinking the potion, her health bar slowly increasing as she did so.

"No, no… haha… sorry. I am really sorry about this. It was… just… too funny!" I try speaking calmly. "I never imagined it would turn that way…" I add as I start to remember the last battle. I was trying to get a clear hit on the lizard in front of me when a loud scream shattered my concentration. 'MOVE IT!' I heard Elise's voice coming from behind and just as I jumped away I saw her running away from another lizard, her HP being already at half. What happened next I don't think I will ever forget. The lizard that was chasing her and the lizard I was fighting a moment ago swung their backs full of spikes vertically, trying to kill Elise. At the last moment she rolled to the side and the beats clashed, damaging one another, resulting in a simultaneous death. I hurried to where Elise should have landed. She was relatively ok, except the fact that she was covered from head to toes in mud. Since that moment I didn't manage to stop laughing.

"Come on! We have to go over there!" She shouted while dragging me in the direction of the last step of the quest. The location was an old church in our vicinity. I freed myself from her gasp and started walking ahead. Soon enough, in front of us a huge double door made its appearance. Small iron vines made the whole exterior design of the doors, from time to time, small flourishes making themselves spotted onto them. I pressed the metal handle of the door on the right, leaving the one on the left as it was.

"If you find yourself in danger of being killed run out. I will do the same. I don't want to take any chances." I state as I step inside. From the damaged ceiling small cracks of light made the interior of the church bright enough to distinguish every object inside. Besides the wooden benches -what was left of them- were stone bricks and parts of the fallen ceiling. I walked cautiously with my sword in front of me, making sure to be able to parry any incoming attack. As we reached the middle of the building something huge emerged from underneath the altar, making bit of rocks and metal fly everywhere.

"Fuck. My. Life." I shouted as the monster in front of us made its apparition. «Renegade, the Snake Eater». I find that name funny since the wearer of that name is a snake itself. His dark orange chest started to enlarge until it reached the size of a normal school bus. Its purple head moved awkwardly around the building. I instinctively prepared to parry as soon as it opened his large mouth, making visible inside, not two, but three poisoned fangs. The attack was swift and precise, but easily dodgeable. I jumped on its head as he missed me and sharply stabbed it. I hurriedly jumped down in time to land another strike on his lower body. "Switch!" I loudly shout as I let Elise get in range for a couple of short attacks, before finishing it off with my «Slice». "Switch." I hear her and without hesitation I cut a straight line throughout its body, splitting it in two. The beast shattered in an instant and the result screen appeared before me.

"Well that is a lot of EXP." Elise says behind me.

"Yeah… I guess this guy should have had a lot of loot inside if this wasn't a quest."

"I guess…" She voices her distrust in my words as we both make our way to the door. In front of the church, the NPC that gave us the quest waited for us.

"I-I didn't think you could do it!" he shouts as he hands me and Elise a weapon according to our set skills, «Two-Handed Longsword» and «One-Handed Curved Sword» respectively.

"I wanted to use this in case you failed, but I don't think I will need it anymore." He says those last words while slowly walking away to the place we first met him.

"Well, I guess this is good-bye." I hear Elise say from behind me. She showed me a weak smile as she began going down the stairs of the church. "I had fun."

"Me too." I say with a tint of disappointment in my voice, but to my surprise a small message box appeared before me.

_'«Elise» wants to add you as a friend.'_

I glanced at her for a moment and pressed the blue button.

"See you later." She said as soon as I accepted the friend request and started walking to the south exit of the city.

"Yeah… see you later." I reply to her as I also leave the town devastated by an unknown force. «The Inexistent Town Veleb».

* * *

**Yo. Mike here. This chapter is loooooooooooooooooong, but not the longest to come. I would like to recieve some reviewes on how the story is going, if you guys find the time to do so. See ya until I get another one out.**


	5. Meeting

Chapter 5 – Meeting

"Just what am I doing out here?" I mutter as a sharp blade passes by the skin of my forehead, lightly touching my hair as it did so. "I still have some quests to do in this town…" I continue to voice my monologue hearing the loud clash of iron weapons right next to my ears. "But still… why am I here? I mean, I could be in many other places right now…" The blade of a large polearm lands directly next to me, making a huge cut into the concrete that represented the terrain of the closest city to the dungeon, or as many call it, the maze leading to the next floor. One of the largest towns of the First Floor, «Tolbana». The blade of the polearm scratched the ground a bit more and then it raised with great speed, shining bright red. "… but why, in the name of God, am I in the middle of a freakin' duel?" I finish my monologue shouting, making the players that were fighting just moments ago stop for a brief moment, as if someone pushed the pause button on a remote. I get up from where I was sitting –the fountain in the middle of the town plaza– and head through the space in between the rival players as they watched me leave, but as soon as I reach about 5 meters from them I got dragged right back in by the hand of one of the combatants. A guy with relatively long hair for… well… a guy placed me at the spot I was initially. His equipment being a full leather armor set and wielding a one-handed sword, he was not the strongest of the players around.

"You said you will wait for me to finish this!" He exasperated whispered to my ear as I sat down once again.

"Yes, I will wait somewhere else." I declare as I try to get up, just to be forced once again to sit.

"NO! You sit down there and wait." He finishes with a large smirk. I wanted to tell him to go jump off a bridge, but I don't know any around here so I will refrain from doing so. With a loud shout he resumes his duel. This guy, «Karima», I found him while doing a slash quest and since one of those is easier to do while in a group, we decided to make a party. Since that day, a week ago, we decided to stick together to clear some floors of the dungeon. Who would have thought that I will have to deal with… with… this! A douchebag bumped into him and the result of that minor incident is a God dammed duel! How hot-headed can you possibly be?!

"WHAT NOW?!" I lose myself as a loud sound of a bell rings in my ear. It was a message that I just got, nothing more, but that did not stop me from glaring at it as if it was some sort of evil entity. In a fit of rage I unsheathed my two-handed longsword «Olrog», which I got two weeks ago, and placed it in front of the long-haired player, making its sword skill interrupt as it touched my blade.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" I hear him shout as he trew my sword away with his bare hands.

"It slipped." I answer monotonously as his funny reaction made me calm down a little.

"That was fully intentional!" He screams returning to his duel.

I touch the orange icon in the left side of my «Avatar», displaying the message that I received.

From: «Elise»  
To: «Shima»  
Subject: Strategy meeting?  
Message: I just heard of it as of today. I am heading to «Tolbana» right now… I was in the «Starting City» moments ago... (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻. I will PM you again when I get close.

"How much of a block-head is she?" I say only for me to hear. "The meeting was announced three days ago!" I place my head in the palm of my hand. I get up after a few minutes and shove my left leg into the ankle of my party member, making him loose balance and eventually falling to the ground as a white box appeared before him announcing him as winner of the duel.

"Lets go, you hot-headed moron. I want to finish some quests today." I say while walking away in the direction of the NPC giving the quest. After about two seconds I find myself grabbed by the collar of my coat and got dragged a few centimeters until I was face to face with Karima.

"WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL IN MAKING ME LOOK LIKE A MORON?!" his shout blew a hole in my ears.

"That was the whole deal, to make me look like a terrible person picking on some awesome hero out of jealousy." I whisper to him, making him put me down.

"Awesome hero, huh? I guess I totally looked that way if you say so..." He mutters, thinking deeply.

"Yes, yes." I repeat as I get going on the way to the quest.

* * *

"And… how is that friend of yours? The one you agreed to meet later." Karima asks as we see the purple sign over our heads [INNER AREA], entering the so-called safe-zone of the town.

"Well… how should I say this… it is a player worthy of having on your party. I mean I did this quest two weeks ago with it… A difficult one actually and I don't think I could have done it without help." I respond making sure not to say the gender. With a in-game population where the male to female ratio is 10 to 1, I should make sure nobody learns that Elise is a girl, though it is inevitable that it will be found out eventually. As for the reason I am doing this… lets say that I don't want her to be harassed by every male player on a 10 square meters radius. Even now, just thinking about this scenario makes me want to trow up…

"If you say so… Is that him?" Karima asks while pointing at a hooded player in the middle of the plaza, looking through the people who pass by. I glance at the weapon at the right side of the hood. It is the same cutlas that I saw two weeks ago in «The Inexistent Town Veleb».

"Wait here." I say in a low voice as I make my way trough the crowd, reaching to the place where Elise was waiting for me.

"Did you wait long?" I ask while still approaching her.

"I didn't… but there are quite a lot of male players around…" she responds in a rush, seeming almost as if she was troubled by this which she has stated.

"Yeah… but what would you actually expect? It was from the start a big difference in numbers and after… well… 'that', I don't think there are a lot of female players that are as strong as…" I wanted to say 'you' but I stopped just in time. We started walking in the direction in which Karima was at.

"Sincecely… I find it quite intimidating…" She voices her frustration in a low voice as we continue walking. "I am glad that I know someone from here…" she says while starting to get closer to me as the crowd in front of us just got bigger.

"Let's get going." I hear Karima shout as we got closer to him. We automatically followed him as he starts walking trough the more unpopular streets of the city. After about two or maybe three minutes he turns on his heels and stops. "You left me there intentionally, didn't you?" He asks with a voice I haven't heard in some time. His serious voice. I assumed it was me he was referring to, but after a short delay Elise took off the hood that was covering her face.

"I thought you were dead after all of that." She responded while a thin smile spread on her face.

"I was ALMOST dead. My health bar was in the red zone, almost invisible to the naked eye, but I was there! I would be dead if it wasn't for a player that happened to be there to give me a potion!" Karima shouted. Those words that they were throwing at each other started to make sense to me, but even so, I did not interfere, not just yet. If they start to threaten each other, that is another matter entirely.

"Well, I am glad you are alive and kicking, so… could we just forget the past for now… at least until we finish with the boss?" She questioned him in a manner I did not try before. To my surprise, it worked.

"Yeah… at least for now, but remember this Elise; I will get my revenge someday." He added as we started walking towards Tolbana's fountain clearing, the place where the first «First floor boss strategy conference» is supposed to be held.

* * *

44 people.

That was the total number of players gathered at Tolbana's fountain clearing.

Compared to my predictions —that was, my expectations, all I could say was this was far too low. In SAO, the maximum size of a party was 6 people, and eight times that, for a total of 48 people to make up a raid group. In order to have zero deaths while killing a floor boss, it would be difficult without at least two raid groups to switch between while fighting, but these numbers couldn't even fill up one raid party.

"Way too few…" I heard from by back the voice of Karima and Elise in unison. After some time we decide that we will attend the meeting in this group, thus making our party for now only three members short.

I nodded, and then looked at the faces of the warriors gathered in threes or fives around the clearing again.

For about five or six people, I knew their name and level, and vice versa. This included «Argo the Rat», who was leaning against a high wall on the other side of the clearing. Additionally, around fifteen of these people I had seen previously near the front line towns and dungeons. As for the remaining 20 plus people, I saw most of them for the first time. Of course, the male-to-female ratio was very extreme. At a quick glance, in terms of female players, there were probably only those two; Elise and Argo...

The three of us sat in the middle of the dome that was the fountain clearing right next to some other players that seemed to mind their own business. I sat closest to the said players, making it so that Elise would be standing in between the two of us.

With a *Pan, Pan* hand-clapping sound, an elegant voice bellowed throughout the plaza.

"O—K! Now then, it's five minutes late, but let's start! Everyone, a bit more to the front... there, come three steps closer!"

The owner of the truly majestic voice was a tall, one-handed sword user with shiny metallic armor covering each of his body parts. With a running start, he jumped onto the plaza fountain's edge. Jumping that high with his armor, he must have possessed very high Strength and Dexterity.

When they saw the back-turned swordsman, several people of the forty made a commotion. I understood what they were feeling. I, too, wondered: that man standing on the edge of the fountain, how was he so handsome, to a point which should not be possible in a VRMMO? In addition, his long hair flowing down in waves on either side of his face was dyed a brilliant blue. Since hair dying items were not sold in shops on the first floor, he must have hunted for a rare monster drop or bought it.

He went to all that trouble to customize hair style and color for this gathering, with only two female players —although one of them was in a hooded cape so no one could tell from the outside, while the other was «Rat»— I think he must have felt some hesitation, but the man completely deflected my suspicion with a refreshing smile and said.

"Today, thank you for heeding my summons! Some people here know me, but I will again introduce myself! I am «Diabel», and my class is «Knight»!"

With that, the people around the fountain burst out with whistles and applause, mixed with various calls like 'You meant «Hero» right!' flew through the air.

For SAO, the job class did not exist in the system. Each player was given a number of «Skill Slots», and could freely select from different skills and set them for training. For example, people with manufacturing or trade type skills in their main slot could be called a «Smith», «Seamstress», «Cook», or other such job titles —however, I have limited knowledge about the «Knight» and «Hero» classes, having not heard of them before.

"But, no matter what kind of class a person calls himself, it is his own freedom."

Saying this, the man named Diabel was wearing bronze armor on his chest, shoulders, arms and shins, with a large longsword on his waist to the left, and a kite shield on his back. You could say that was the armament befitting Knight.

"Well then, as for the reason I gathered you top players who are active at the very front lines, I don't think I need to say it..."

As Diabel's speech continued, I stopped my thoughts and concentrated on him. The blue-haired knight raised his right hand, pointed to the huge tower vaguely seen rising above the town skyline -the first floor maze— and continued.

"...Today, my party found the stairs leading to the top-most floor of that tower. That is, tomorrow —or, at the latest, the day after tomorrow— we will reach it: the first floor's... boss room!"

The players made a large commotion. I was a little surprised, too. The first floor maze had 20 floors; I and Karima went to the 18th floor today, to the area near the 19th floor stairs. I didn't know that the 19th floor was already mapped so thoroughly.

"One month. Coming this far took one month... Even so, we have to set an example. Kill the boss, and reach the 2nd floor! We have to show that this death game can be cleared to everyone waiting at the Starting City. That is the obligation of us top players here! Isn't that right, everyone!"

Again, cheers. This time, there were people clapping who were not Diabel's friends. Actually, what was being said was honorable and nothing was hidden. No, it would be strange to even wonder about anything hidden in those words.

"What a show off… but I guess he is right…" I hear Elise mutter besides me.

"What would you expect, idiot?" said Karima before landing a light chop on her head. "He is supposed to make everyone feel safe."

"I know that… It's just that—"

But she didn't manage to finish her sentence as it was cut short by another.

"Wait a minute, Knight-san."

At that moment, a low voice flowed out.

The cheering immediately stopped, and the front of the crowd split into two. At the center of the emptied space was a somewhat short and stockily built man. From my position, I could only make out a rather large one-handed sword on his back, and some kind of pointed, cactus-styled brown hair.

Taking one step forward, the cactus head growled in a deep, gravelly voice that was the opposite of Diabel's beautiful voice.

"Before that, there is one thing that must be cleared up; otherwise I cannot join you."

Diabel's eyes narrowed for an instant, but soon returned to full smiles and said while beckoning.

"Opinions are certainly very welcome. But, if you are going to speak, you should tell us your name."

"...Hum."

Cactus head gave a huge snort, then stepped forward. When he reached the fountain, he turned around to face us.

"I am «Kibaou»."

After taking plenty of time to look at everyone once, Kibaou eventually said in a threatening tone of voice.

"In this group, about 5 or 10 people need to apologize."

"Apologize? To whom?"

The knight that was still standing behind him on the fountain edge, Diabel, raised both hands in question. Without looking at him, Kibaou spat out in hatred.

"Ha, isn't it obvious. To the 2000 now dead people. Those guys had a monopoly on everything, and so 2000 people died in one month! Isn't that right?!"

At that moment, the low buzzing in the forty people audience was cut short; all went silent. What Kibaou insinuated, everyone finally understood. Myself included, of course.

In the oppressive silence, only the evening BGM from the NPC orchestra played quietly. No one spoke. If anything was said, then you might suddenly be labeled as one of «those guys» —that was the likely fear on everyone's mind. No, more than likely. But I felt nothing compared to the rest.

"—Kibaou-san. Your «those guys» are... the original beta testers, right?"

Diabel with his arms crossed, showed the most stern look up till now as he asked for confirmation.

"Obviously."

With the thick metal pieces of his scale mail clinking over the leather he wore, Kibaou took a glance at the knight behind him and continued.

"Those beta testers, on the day this shitty game started, dashed from the Starting City and disappeared. They left behind over 9000 people who didn't know left from right. They monopolized good hunting grounds and profitable quests, got stronger without a care for those behind. ...There should be some in this group, hiding their beta status, some sly people thinking of joining the boss fight. I want them to kneel down once, to the party members their lives depend on. That's what I want to say!"

Like his name, he cut off his condemnation with a snap of his teeth. Still, no one said anything.

It was not that I didn't want to shout a retort such as, 'The original beta testers, do you think that none of them died?'

About one week earlier, I bought some information -from Argo to be exact. I requested her to check on something: To find out the death toll for the original beta testers.

The SAO closed beta conducted over summer vacation accepted only 1000 people. Every participant was later given the privilege to buy the official release first, but since the launch date was near examination week, my guess was that not all 1000 testers moved to the official service. Probably about 700 or 800 people total did—that, was the number of original beta testers at the start of the game.

However, finding out «Who is an original beta tester» was not so simple. If a player's colored cursor had a [β] mark, then of course it would be easy —having said that, it could be called fortunate that such a mark did not exist. As for the avatar's appearance of those said players, the GM Kayaba Akihiko had reset everyone's appearance to be the same as in reality. The only factor we could go by was the name, but it's probable that many were changed from the beta to the official release. I surely did not wanted to be one of them right now.

Anyway, for these reasons, Argo's research should have been very difficult. However, it only took 3 days for her to give me a number.

Around 300 people was Argo's estimate for the death toll of original beta testers.

If that number is accurate, that means, of the current death toll of 2000, which has drastically increased from two weeks ago, 1700 were new players. Percentage-wise, the new player death rate was about 18%. On the other hand, the original tester death rate was close to 40%. The motive behind this is that what you think it is experience from the old game is actually worth nothing in the actual game, since a lot of changes must have occurred.

"May I speak?"

At that time, a rich and forceful baritone resounded in the evening plaza. I returned from my thoughts and raised my head. From right next to me, a silhouette started moving forward.

Huge. His height probably was easily over 180cm. An avatar's size was said not to have any effect on his stats, but the two-handed battle-axe slung over his back certainly appeared lightweight to him.

His appearance, too, was impressive and did not lose to his weapon. A completely bald head, and chocolate-colored skin. However, the chiseled face fit so well you might think it was customized. Not Japanese... instead of saying that, maybe he wasn't even human.

The muscular giant moved forward to the fountain, lightly bowed to the other players, and then turned to the dramatically different statured Kibaou.

"My name is Agil. Kibaou-san, what you mean to say is that many beginners died because original beta testers did not take care of them, and you wish for them to accept that responsibility and apologize, isn't that correct?"

"Th...That's right."

Kibaou, momentarily overwhelmed, took a step back, but soon returned forward. With his shiny, small eyes glaring at the axe user called Agil, he shouted.

"If they had not left us behind, 2000 people would not have died! However, they were not just any 2000 people, most of them were top ranks or veterans from other MMO's! If those shitty testers had properly shared information, items and money, then there would have been 10 times the people here... no, by now we would have broken through the 2nd or 3rd floor!"

"That's what you say, Kibaou-san. I don't know about the money and items, but I believe you mentioned information?"

While I lowered my eyes miserably, Agil the axe warrior again responded in a rich baritone. From the huge pouch on his muscled, leather armor-covered waist, he took out a simple sheepskin-bound booklet. The cover had round ears and three whiskers stylized with a «Rat Mark».

"This guidebook, you got it too right. Freely distributed from the item shops in Horunka and Medai."

"...Fr-Freely distributed?"

I involuntarily spluttered quietly. From the cover marking, this was Argo the Rat's merchandise, the «Strategy Guide by Area». It had detailed information on areas about monster appearance, drop items, and even quest-related explanations. On the bottom of the cover was written, [It's fine. This is Argo's strategy guide.] That slogan was no exaggeration. A bit embarrassing, but I bought the whole set to supplement my memory —then, if I remember correctly, each book should be 500 col, a pretty respectable price...

"...I got it too."

Beside me, the up-until-now almost silent Elise whispered. I inquired with "For free?" and she nodded.

"There's a commission to the item shop owner, but since the price is 0 col, everyone got it. It soon came in handy."

"Wh...What's going on..."

That «Rat» —she was such a devilish merchant that she would sell her own stats if that would make money. But, freely distribute information? It wasn't possible! I shifted my gaze; the stone wall Argo was quietly sitting on a few minutes earlier was empty. The next time I met her, I wanted to ask for the reason why, but somehow I could already see her answer: "That information is 1000 col".

"—Got it. What about it?"

Kibaou's sharp voice interrupted my thought process. Agil put his strategy guide back in his pouch, and said with arms crossed.

"This guide, whenever I reach a new village or town, is always found in the item shop. It's the same for you right. The information comes too soon, don't you think?"

"So what if it's too soon!?"

"The ones who provided the information on monsters and map data in this, cannot be anyone other than the original beta testers."

"Well that was an interesting show." stated Karima as he leisurely stretched his arms. "That serves him right." He added with a faint smile. If I knew better I would say that Karima was actually happy that what the cactus head initially said was proven to be wrong.

Kibaou closed his mouth sharply, and the knight Diabel behind him nodded in an 'I see' way.

Once all eyes were again directed on Agil, who spoke with his far-carrying baritone.

"You see, there is information. And even still, many players died. That reason is because they were veteran MMO players, I think. They found SAO similar to other titles, but missed a key difference. However, now is not the time to hunt down who is responsible for those casualties. Whether we become a casualty or not, and how that influences this meeting, is what I think."

The two-handed axe user Agil possessed a very imposing countenance, and his argument was also extremely straightforward, so that Kibaou could only stand in the shadows in silence. If anyone else other than Agil claimed the same thing, then Kibaou would probably counter with 'Saying that means you are an original beta tester', I think. But, as it was now, all he could do was glare at the giant with hatred.

Behind the two silently confronting each other, Diabel, still standing on the fountain's edge, his long hair dyed purple from the evening sun, waved as he nodded once more.

"Kibaou-san, I can understand your point. I, too, went into unknown territories, and finally arrived here after many near deaths. But, as this Agil-san said, isn't it now time to look forward? Even original beta testers... no, especially original testers, we need their fighting strength for this boss strategy. If we removed them, and that resulted in the attack failing, what would be the point?"

He truly was the knight he proclaimed himself to be! I reminisced. He too had given an inspiring speech; many in the audience deeply nodded. I felt the atmosphere change from 'condemning original testers', and I involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief, though I realized it was shameful of me, then listened to Diabel continue.

"Everyone, you each have your own preferences, but right now, I would like for you to cooperate to break through the first floor. If there are people who will not fight alongside original testers under any circumstance, then it is unfortunate, but you are free to leave. For a boss fight, teamwork is essential."

The knight's gaze swept across everyone, and finally stopped at Kibaou. The cactus head swordsman made a huge snort then spat out these words.

"...Fine, I will listen to you for now. But I want it to be clear, black and white, only up until the boss fight is finished."

With his scale mail clinking, Kibaou retreated from the front of the group. The axe user Agil, too, spread his arms, showing that he had nothing more to say and returned to his previous place. As he sat down, the two-handed axe on his back made a loud *clunk*.

"You sure know how to make use of words." I say at Agil as he let out a loud sigh.

"It would be bad if a conflict between the beta testers and the new players would start right now." He proclaimed with the same voice I heard before.

"I think so too." I say as I glanced at Karima once more.

In the end, that was the highlight of this first meeting. Because, even if we wanted to discuss the details of boss strategy, we had only just arrived at the top floor of the maze. In a situation where no one had seen the boss's face, a strategy could not be made...


	6. Weakness

_Why did I thought that everything will settle on its own? It's funny how a person can change the way they see things in only a couple of seconds. Just in seconds... nothing more scary than forgetting how you used to be. Ironic, to be hero... then villain... then hero once again. But that change... that very change is what lets us move forward. Even so the past can never be erased, no matter how much we scrub it. That is what drives people mad... the past._

* * *

Chapter 6 - Weakness

**Three weeks ago.**

I did nothing. For a week I sat inside the already crammed inns of the Starting City, but I had enough. I look one last time around the chamber I stayed in from the first day of this death game. The simple bed was in the corner of the room, next to the window, nothing more. The place I passed most of my days in. Even now, I have the urge to get underneath the thick covers, but I cannot do that... not any more... I have to fight this fear that nestled in my heart. A common fear among humans. A fear encoded deep in our brains, our conscience even. Death. A simple noun that signifies the end of life, of any life. What does not die, is not alive. In conclusion any alive being in this world will eventually wither, so why am I afraid? Why, when I can still fight? I have to walk as long as I can on the road ahead. Staying here... waiting for something to happen... is foolish. I close the door as I exit the room. Nobody is in the hallway, and nobody is downstairs. This place looks lifeless, even though the rooms are full of people.

"Dying is easy..." I say in a low voice as I press the metal handle of the door. The virtual world had its own timeline, one that was in sync with the real world, but that doesn't mean that the months or even the seasons here should copy the ones in reality. For example even if it's early November, the sun shines bright and warm waves of heat travel the plateau that is the first floor of the floating castle Aincrad.

I start walking in the direction of the shining gold arcade that signals the exit out-of-town. I open the menu with a swipe of my fingers and go to the inventory section. The items that are currently equipped are shadowed while the ones that I do not use are selectable. I press the very first item on the list and automatically equip it. In two seconds a muffled sound is heard and I feel my back a little heavier. Before I exit the safety of the [INNER AREA] I want to test something. I move my hand until I reach the one-handed sword on my back and in a single motion, I pull it out of its sheath. It is nothing special, just a normal training sword. I bet there are heavier ones than this, but its true heaviness is a mental one. I stare at the object that will help me from now on, or as some would say, my partner. The tools used in this world in order to advance can cut enemies and friends alike. A wrong swing and all can be over. I close my eyes, feeling the sword in my hand, thinking it as a completion of my arm. I visualize it and move accordingly to the skill's indication. I open my eyes and see the bright red arc that my sword made in less than a second with a speed much superior to a normal swing. In fact it was so fast that even my long hair has been ruffled by it. So this was a so-called sword skill... Another tool that I must use, but I didn't before now. Perhaps the fact that I accepted all of this was a part of it. That I accepted SAO as a reality, while still different from my own, but right now, being the one I am in.

With a loud sigh I step outside into the wilderness with the sword still in hand. A quick glance at the top left of my vision and I see the shining bar that represents my hit-points. For a level one player I did a lot of farm in the first day, until the announcement. I was terrified of the thought that I could have died at any time as I fought recklessly while in the red zone. _'It wouldn't be that bad to die like this for the first time' _I though at the time. Fact to be told, for me and for everyone else this was a simple online game for the first hours... but now... this is reality. Nothing more, nothing less.

"O.K.!" I say as I start sprinting. "Lets test that resolve of mine, shall we?" I shout as I land a hit on a blue-ish wolf that I came across. I swing my sword, aiming for its vital spots with ferocious thrusts. Leaving behind a red wound-mark on the beast's neck, I back off and watch as it shatters. I drag my breath for a bit as I close my eyes.

"I killed something." I let the words escape my lips.

"Kyaa!" I shout in fear as a bell-like sound surprises me. I open my eyes while still shivering and see the result window that just popped up.

"I forgot about these..." I say in amazement and embarrassment alike. I press the blue button and it disappears in an instant.

"I did it." I mutter is the silence around me. "I did it!" I shout in triumph over my fear.

* * *

**One week ago.**

"Here!" I say while I take a potion out of my pouch and give it to the male player in front of me. He looks at me from head to toes and takes it from my hand. His HP was in the red zone, and so low that even a light hit with my bare hands I could have killed him. He takes out the cap of the bottle and downed it in under a second.

"Thank you!" He yelled as he gasped my hand. "If you weren't here I would be dead trying to reach a town!" He added as he shook my hand harder than anyone before.

"You are welcome..." I say while my face got bright red. With an 'Ah-' he let go of my hand and straightened his back. His hair is long enough to reach his shoulders and straight, no less. His body armour is made only out of leather and on his back rests a one-handed longsword.

"I am sorry for earlier..." He says in embarrassment. "I am Karima."

"Yume, nice to meet you." I respond to him. "What were you doing here?" I ask surprised that he is still alive.

"That little piece of..." He mutters loud enough for me to hear.

"I am sorry, but-" I try to say but he interrupts me.

"It is nothing. For now lets get to the city, shall we?" He declares as he pushes me from the back. "Come on, come on. I will treat you with something." I hear him add while smiling from ear to ear.

I sigh as I follow him inside the town of Medai. This town was actually pretty small and being situated at the middle of the first floor, was the perfect place to serve as a leveling ground. That and reaching the maze leading to the second floor. I am sure that I won't get there until they would have reached the upper floor. I sigh once more as we walk side by side on the somewhat crowded streets of the city.

"Here." I hear him say in a whisper as he shoved me in the right direction. A bar, or perhaps restaurant was in front of me, but I couldn't see the name as Karima opened the main door and dragged me inside. Here there was a atmosphere I rarely saw until now. Players talking, drinking, eating and even sleeping everywhere I could see.

"It gets you in the right mood, being here. No?" He asks as he takes me to one of the more sheltered tables and calls for a waiter. I think that this is the first time I sat at a table with someone, here, in this virtual space. "So, where are you going to?" I heard Karima say as we waited to give our order.

"I was going to Tolbana." I say. "I did the majority of the quests here, so that was the best choice." I finish my answer. He gave me a piercing look after which he smiled.

"You will die." He said in a cold voice while still keeping his smile. "If you go there with your current equipment you will surely die." He stated while he rocked the chair in which he was sitting.

"How-"

"You will die." He repeated his previous sentence with which he closed my mouth. "I will tell you how to get the necessary items." He said while looking straight in my eyes. "You saved my life and I am in debt to you, so I cannot let you die until I get rid of that, no?" He smiles as he shouts, to my surprise, after the waiter, loud enough so that everyone nearby could hear.


	7. Beater

Chapter 7 - Beater

**[-Back to Shima-]**

A loud sigh escapes my mouth as I walk ahead of the group D, or the party of weirdos. Today, on the real calendar, is the 4th of December, the day the raid group made out of 44 people will enter the boss room situated at the very top of the dungeon. We had a meeting yesterday regarding the upcoming battle, yet again using the guide made by Argo and her fellow beta testers entitled: 'Argo's Strategy Guide: First Floor Boss edition'. The price was 0 col from the start. The boss was a huge Kobold, 2 meters in height having a total of 4 health bars. Its name was «Illfang the Kobold Lord», and its weapon was of the scimitar category. Once engaged in combat, three metal-armored, halberd-wielding «Ruin Kobold Sentinels» would appear— Even so, after the boss's health has been reduced to the red zone, it will discard the shield and axe and use its hidden weapon, a huge Talwar. This was a low level boss and we could probably kill it with only players of level 5 or less. I glanced at my health bar, focusing my vision on it. "Shima; HP: 2217/2217; LV: 10". Underneath it were 5 more bars, though I could not see their actual hit-points, each one of them was strong. The first two bars had the names written as «Karima» and «Elise» and I was over-familiar with them, while the rest of them were unknown to me. I took a quick glance behind me. First off was «Yuki» a player with a small stature, about 2 thirds of my height and he doesn't talk, at all. He has a black night cloak covering his face, but I could see his main weapon being a silver dagger, which was sitting on the side of his chest. Second was «Gak» and I do not know why, but all the time he was with this party he carryed a tree branch resembling a spear of some sorts. He used it to defend against the monsters on our way to the dungeon and I must admit that he was pretty good. His armour was light, but heavier than mine and it was of a gold-like shineiness. He moved swiftly and killed, with his stick, all the heavy targets in our way in one single strike. He is older than me by at least 5 years and his face shows it immediately. His black hair makes him remarked amongst the other players by the simple fact that it contrasts well with his armor. From his face he seems rough, adding his short, unkept beard. Lastly we have «Lasco» who has the best poker face you have ever saw, almost like the game made it so he can't feel anything. Or at least not to show it… His hair is cut short and he is quite the charm amongst the raid group, only if he could change expressions from time to time… To be honest, it freaks me out to talk to him, this 14-year-old kid. And to wrap it all up, I am the leader of this group. We often get strange looks as we walk in between groups C and E, but it is nothing much, at least not for me. Elise has been fidgeting around me for quite some time and Karima is in a great mood as he leisurely walks besides Yuki while holding his sword on his shoulder.

"Yo, it is nice to be on-screen all the time, right shortie?" He says laughing as he hits Yuki's back making him stagger a little. "Those guys with the cactus head are throwing some really nasty looks this way, eh?" He affirms as he shoots a sharp glance at two of the members of group E that automatically turn their heads around in the direction of the road. The leaders of the groups are in order from group A to group H as follows: « Kharta», «Agil», «Diabel», «Shima», «Kibaou», «Asphe», «Yuu», «Kirito». Groups A and B are the main tank group meant to take all the attention of the boss, while groups C and D are to shrink the HP bar as much as possible before switching. The rest will kill off the sentinels that spawn around us.

"On the right! Blade users, don't let them get to the back of the group!" Diabel shouts as he advances and takes down a Kobold that ambushed from a sharp corner. "He really knows how to deal with this…" I mumble for myself with a grain of worry in my voice, but then continuing towards my group. "Don't mind it… of course we would get attention." I add towards Karima as he shot another sharp glance at group C this time.

"Yeah, you're right… but I don't want our group to be the main attraction here!" he ended is a shout, making everyone look away from us and on the road. "Be careful at monsters is what I meant, you fucking twat!" he shouted while he cut down a Kobold that attacked just now a spear user from group E. Returning to his place near Yuki he let out a long sigh and whispered something to him. I could see his face turning red underneath the cloak as he kept walking. Next to him, Karima smiled while he gently patted his head for a moment. It was quite a rare sight… Karima to get close to someone he just met. Usually people tend to ignore him and yet he seems to get along pretty well… with the mute guy…

I chuckle a little as I glance at Elise who got next to me in the meantime. With the cloak covering her face, I could fully relax, more so since there are no other female players around. She did not talk much since it would expose her identity so we communicated trough PM's but only when she had something important to say. As I though about this the whole group came to a halt. In front of us layed the doors leading to the boss room. Diabel took his sword out from its sheath and came in front of us all and placed it in front of him as his voice made itself heard, reaching the back of the raid group, but in utter silence.

"Good work everyone." He said in a low voice since loud shouts could attract humanoid monsters around the area. "Until now everything was O.K. but the real hurdle begins now. I will check the groups one more time and assign their positions." As he finished he took its time to arrange every one of us in the right positions as we would all jump right into battle as we enter the room. Finishing this, he walked in front of us once again.

Diabel lifted his silver long-sword up high, and gave a large nod. The forty-three raid members also raised their weapons and nodded in reply.

His long green hair fluttered as he turned around; the knight placed his left hand in the center of the large doors――

"――――Let's go!"

With a short cry, he pushed the doors open with all his might.

* * *

The room was vast. The rectangular room had a width from the left to the right wall of about twenty meters, and there was a distance of about one hundred meters from the entrance to the back. The size of the floor was roughly the same as the other 20 floors, and this room was the last one to be mapped. Therefore, its area could be estimated from the blank area on the map. However, seeing it with our eyes made it feel a lot larger than it actually was.

This room was spacious in order to contain the gigantic monsters here.

In Aincrad's boss room, the doors would not close even during battle against the boss. Therefore, even if the events took a turn for the worse and we were in danger of being annihilated, we had the option to retreat. However, if we turned and fled and the enemy's long ranged sword skill hit us, it might slow us down, «delay», or prevent us from moving, «stun». So, we would have to retreat while facing the boss. In that situation, the hundred meters needed to escape would feel infinitely long and could lead to a critical situation. Instantaneous teleportation was possible using a «Teleport Crystal»; however, it was expensive and obtainable only from the higher floors, which would make retreating from bosses on higher floors easier, but because it was so expensive, the player could be left with a near-empty wallet after such a retreat.

While I was contemplating such thoughts, the boss room sank into almost complete darkness. On the walls to the left and right of the room, *ping* *ping*, from the front of the room towards the back, «torches» were lit one by one. The crude torches noisily blazing to life.

As the sources of light were generated, the internal brightness «Gamma» also increased. The stone floor and walls were filled with cracks. Adorning the area, large and small skulls were scattered around. In the deepest part of the room stood a huge throne, upon which a rough silhouette of something large was seated.

The knight, Diabel, raised his long sword, and swung it down in front of him...

At his signal, the forty-four members of the boss monster hunting forces raised a battle cry as they rushed into the room like an avalanche.

The first ones who came into contact with the boss were the guys in group A. The heavy armour they wore made it so they could withstand the full potential of the bosses swings, Diabel made sure of that. They were followed by group B diagonally to their left, led by the Axe warrior Agil, and to their right, Diabel and his five friends made up group C. Our group initiating next to them while the others were to fight off the sentinels and assist us with «Stuns» or other crowd control effects. I moved forward with much grater speed than the rest of my group, but still, they were just about one meter behind. I used a sword skill «3rd Strike» and made a huge cut into the boss's red skin followed by two other swipes. This was followed by a 5-hit combo made by Yuki who gained on me very fast compared to the rest. I could see his silver hair fly out of the hood as I focused on the Kobold Lord in front of me. I did another 3-hit combo and backed off making it possible for Elise to pass me and reaching the boss with a linear strike that cut it on the whole lower half of the body. She jumped away as fast as she arrived when the boss decided to flip his tail around at her, making it out without any of her HP missing. With an infernally loud sound Karima and Gak passed me as they charged into the fight, both of them dealing massive damage with 5-hit combos. I followed them in team with Lasco. Both of us did a 3-hit combo twice and changed positions with group C. From the distance I could hear numerous clashes of swords as the other parties fought the second group of Sentinels, meaning that we got two health bars to go.

"Lasco, go in with Yuki from the side while Elise and Gak stay right here!" I shout as we pass group B on the way to the other side of the boss. "I will go with Karima! We will meet on the other side in 5 minutes!" I finish, printing to the location I assigned myself to and dealt a single strike blow to the boss, making it so that Karima could deal his 3-hit combo while moving, not waiting for me to switch over. In exactly 5 minutes we regrouped on the other side and struck the beast with all we've got, dogging additional hits from the boss while he swung its axe at the tanking groups. We all backed off for a moment just to hear it.

"Uguruooooooooooooo――――!"

«Illfang the Kobold Lord» gave out a loud roar. At the same time, the final wave of three «Ruin Kobold Sentinel» jumped out of their holes in the walls.

At that moment―

The Kobold king, with the bone axe in its right hand and the leather shield in its left, threw both down onto the ground simultaneously, gave another roar, brought its hand to the back of its waist, grasped the rag bound handle and pulled out the «Talwar».

From here on, it would only use the sword skills from the curved blade category, going into a berserk rampage, becoming terribly wild, but dealing with it is now easier than before. It used a long-ranged longitudinal cut. As long as you grasped the timing of the skill when it was launched, even if you're near the boss you could avoid the edge of the weapon.

Under Diabel's command, the six people that formed Group C surrounded the boss. This was a formation that was not used while the boss still wielded the bone axe. Really, I didn't expect that reading the book beforehand allowed them to come up with such a precise and amazing formation. This was really a good decision. As long as the six could avoid the wild swings of the talwar until the final blow this boss fight should be a huge success. Since, form what I could see, no players have died.

Illfang roared and howled, then it slowly moved the blade in its right hand up high...

The Kobold king's huge body shook the floor, as it jumped up high. It turned its body in mid-air, while accumulating power to its weapon. As it fell down, it used the accumulated power, releasing a crimson beam of light.

Plane of attack――horizontal. Angle of attack――three hundred and sixty degrees.

I have never seen such skill, but something was certain. This was unexpected. I glanced at the weapon of the boss and froze in place.

"Th-that is no talwar…" I said with an empty voice. "It's a nodachi…"

Six vivid red light effects appeared, looking like pillars of blood.

The HP gauge that was displayed to the left in our field of vision showing Group C's average HP immediately dropped below fifty percent and into the yellow zone. Although you could expand the gauge with your fingertips in order to see the six individual HP gauges of each player, at the moment there was no point in doing it. Everyone in Group C obviously received equal amounts of damage.

It was a ranged attack with tremendous power and enough to take out more than half of the full HP, but that was not all. Yellow lights rotated around the heads of the six people who had collapsed on the floor, indicating that they were unable to move for a period time ―― this was the stun effect.

Not a single person moved to help. Despite carefully planning for the fight during the meeting, followed by the march forward in a mood under the impression of an easy victory, the person everyone relied on, their leader Diabel, had been struck down in a single blow. For these reasons, aside from Group C, everyone was bound to the spot rigidly. After the strained silence, the Kobold Lord recovered from the long delay caused by using its skill.

"Change!"

A loud shout came from behind me as Agil and his group moved forward to support the others.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

"Uguruo!"

The demi-human roared, and the nodachi in both its hands was lifted off the cut floor and raised up high. It was aimed for the Knight that had fallen right in front of it, Diabel. As if pulled by a red arc of light, the knight in silver armor was sent flying high up into the air. The damage wasn't much. However, the Kobold Lord's movement didn't stop there.

Using its large wolf-like mouth, it grinned and laughed ferociously.

The nodachi was once again wrapped in a red light effect.

While in the sky, Diabel brandished his sword, trying to pull off a sword skill to counterattack. However, because he was unstable, the system could not determine the starting motion for the skill. The nodachi directly hit the front of the knight who waved his sword uselessly.

At a speed which could not be seen the combination attack continued with a further strike followed by a thrust.

The knight's body was covered in three continuous damage effect, the bright colours and intense sounds showed that all the attacks were critical hits. His _virtual body_ «Avatar» was blasted twenty meters away, over the heads of the raid members, and ended up near the Sentinel that was fighting the leader of group H. He fell almost as if piercing the ground. His HP gauge, which was already red, began to reduce further. Then… he shattered.

Uwaaaaa, this kind of cry ―― this scream filled the Boss room.

Nearly all the raid members clutched and hung on to their weapons, with their wide eyes open. But no one moved. The leader being first to fall, to die, was an unpleasant situation no one had prepared for, so no one knew the next course of action.

Of course, this was also true for me.

In my mind, two options alternately blinked. To flee, or to fight.

In normal circumstances, «Boss uses weapons and skills different to information previously given» and «Loss of leader», suffering from two disasters, everyone should immediately retreat out of the boss's room. But from what I saw earlier this was impossible since he could gain enough speed to finish us off before we could get out. I gulped loudly and gasped my sword, but no one besides me moved, or didn't even got to my conclusions.

―No. I was wrong.

Two players began running towards the boss, group H, made out of only two members. As they charged in the boss engaged them with another charge type skill, only this time, it was countered by the leader of the said group, Kirito. From behind him the other player started attacking the boss with what appeared to be a super-human «Linear», a basic rapier skill, but done so perfectly I almost couldn't see the blade move. Even with the system assist this was something… but out of nowhere the boss managed to land another strike which the second player managed to dodge, in exchange getting its cloak ripped to pieces by the skill. To my surprise, it was a female player with long chestnut hair. All of a sudden I felt my stomach revolting, even though it was a misconception of my brain. If she was any closer to me I might have even puked. I hate myself for this. I hate myself for being so weak as to be so afraid of physical contact with a woman. I tried my best to be normal around Elise since she wasn't too… feminine, but that is my limit. Even as I avert my eyes from the beautiful chestnut-haired player I could see that they are keeping the boss at bay, for the moment at least.

"Agil!" I shout loud enough for him to hear me from the other side of the room. "Help them when you can!" I add as he and his team moves to aid them.

"Why aren't you helping?" I hear Karima say in a low voice only for me to hear. "You have the highest AGI stat from here right now. You even leveled up «Acrobatics» like crazy for the last days." He finishes as he keeps looking at me weird.

"I can't." I respond to him. "I simply can't."

A loud clashing sound echoes around the walls around us. Agil just parried a swing that focused on the leader of group H rendering the monster immobile for a second or more.

"If the boss is surrounded it will attack back with an omni-directional attack! I will be calling out the trajectory of the attacks, so the guys in front, deal with them! You don't have to use sword skills to cancel the attack, you can avoid a large amount of damage just by blocking it with a weapon and a shield properly!" the voice of Kirito rang in the room. The whole group B started to attack the boss.

"If you guys want to help, feel free to go." I said making everyone around me and Karima snap out of the fear an amazement that was just moments ago. With loud shouts two of the players that I did not know from my party charged to attack the boss but stopped halfway through. With a red flash the group made out of tanks was on the ground beneath the gigantic Kobold.

With a jerk, the large body sank into a crouch. Then its entire bulk was flung high up into a vertical jump. While on its course, its body along with the Nodachi, contorted and revolved during the jump.

Then I hear a loud shout, perhaps one of the loudest I would ever hear coming from a player, but I seriously doubt it.

"U...ooaa!"

Kirito shouted as he jumped in the way of Ilfang moving his sword in an attempt to intercept it as it threatened to kill all group B.

"Reach... it――――!"

*Zashuu!* A loud slashing sound rang out. The intense light effects showing that it was a critical hit flashed before my eyes. In the next moment, the Kobold king's mass was sent angling sidewards, crashing into the ground before the tornado of its special attack could even form.

"Guruu!"

It yelled, as it tried to stand up as both its feet and arms quivered. It was a bad status that affected humanoid type monsters, the «Tumble» state ――.

Kirito landed to the side, taking less damage from the fall than the boss did.

"Everyone ――! «Full Attack»! Surround it!"

"O...oooooh!"

Agil's six men cried out releasing the anger that had accumulated while they had only been able to concentrate on guarding all this while. Surrounding the fallen Kobold king, they activated all their vertical slashing sword skills simultaneously. Axes, maces and hammers wrapped in lights of various colours, roared as they rained down on its body. Bright lights and loud sound effects exploded, and Illfang's HP gauge which was shown at the top of the field of vision was shaved down bit by bit.

Agil's group who had recovered from the delay of their techniques, began the preliminary motions for their next skills. The Kobold king stopped struggling at the same time, and its body started to rise.

"Get away!" Kirito called out as group B conformed with this instruction. He and the other female player started running again slashing the boss to pieces as they constantly switched places one with another. With a long double-cut the boss finally fallen, its body shattering to pieces. Right in front of everyone the huge words appeared with a loud chime.

"Congratiulations…" I read the text with amazement. We have finally finished this floor. We are beginning to advance. This is great news for the players in the Starting City and yet―

"―――― Why!"

Suddenly, that loud shout howled out behind me. I half-turned, in response to that wailing, and the cheering from the entire room calmed in an instant.

I had turned to see a man in light armor, a scimitar user, whose name I could not recall. However, as soon as his mouth parted and further disjointed words flowed from his lips, I understood.

"―――― Why, did you leave Diabel-san to die!"

This man, was a member of Group C... in other words he had been one of the deceased knight Diabel's comrades from the start. As I looked past him, to the remaining four members behind him, they stood looking dishevelled. Some of them were crying.

"Let him die...?"

"That's right! Because... Because you knew the skills the boss used, didn't you! If you had given us that information from the start, Diabel wouldn't have died!"

His cries came as if vomiting blood, and the remaining raid members began to rumble. "Now that you mention it..." "Why...? It wasn't even written in the strategy guide..." giving rise to speculation, which gradually spread.

"I... I know! This guy: he's a beta tester! That's why, the boss's attack patterns, good hunting spots and quests, he knows all of them! He hid them despite knowing about them!"

Even upon hearing those words, the scimitar user and the other members from Group C did not show any surprise. Much like myself, to be honest. The way he moved… he was an obvious beta tester, but that is no reason to hate someone…

Instead, the scimitar user's eyes seemed to seethe in hatred, as he again tried to shout out something.

It was interrupted by the mace user who had served as a tank with Agil until the end. He raised his hand dutifully, and said in a calm tone.

"Even so, the guide that was handed out yesterday, it was written that it was information on the boss's attack pattern only from the beta period, right? If he was really a beta tester, wouldn't his knowledge be the same as in the guide?"

"Tha, That is..."

Replacing the Group E member who became silent, the scimitar user spoke in a voice venomous with animosity.

"That strategy guide was a lie. Argo's information shop was selling lies. That person was a beta tester after all, there's no way she would have given us the truth for free."

――_This is bad. This is becoming very bad._

A short period of silence then a loud laugh engulfed the room.

"An original beta tester, right? ... Don't lump me together with those amateurs." Kirito stated as he made his way to the center of the room.

"Wha... What was that...?"

"Listen here and remember well. SAO's CBT «Closed Beta Test» had an outrageously low acceptance for the lottery draw. Out of the one thousand people, how many real MMO gamers do you think got selected? Most of them were just «Newbie» players who didn't even know methods of leveling properly. You guys here are much better than that lot."

The whole room became silent in under a second.

"――But, I'm not like those guys. During the beta testing, I reached floors no one else could reach. And there I learned of the Katana Skills the boss used, as I fought and killed mobs that used katanas on way higher floors. I know a lot more too, there's no way even someone like Argo could match me."

"...What's that, that's..."

"That's... no longer on the level of a beta tester... that's totally cheating, you're just a cheater!"

From all around us, yeah, cheater, cheating beta tester, a multitude voices sprang up. The words were soon muddled together, and in the end a strange-sounding word, «Beater», reached my ears.

"...«Beater», that has a good ring to it."

He laughed and grinned while equipping an item from his inventory.

"Exactly, I am a «Beater». From now on, please do not lump me together with those former testers."

He said while a black coat covered his leather chest-piece. With that he steadily moved to the stairs that reached the upper floor.

"Come on." I say in silence as I take both Karima and Elise with me to the end of the boss room and into the dungeon. Once I get there I opened my menu and disbanded the group made for the raid and created a new one, wile inviting both of them. The window appeared in front of their «Avatars» and both of them clicked the blue round button.

"Now what?" Karima asked as slid his back on a nearby wall. "That guy..." he said while covering his eyes with the sleeve of his coat "... that guy took all the blame for the beta testers, right?" I didn't need to answer his question because he already knew the answer.

"First of all we should all get to the «Starting City»" I said in a low voice, getting weird looks from both of them. "Oh, come on..." I exasperated sigh as I open the map menu to see the safest route out of the dungeon. "... when a new floor is reached after two hours there is a celebration called «Town Opening». The teleportation gate in the «Starting City» will get us there."

"But why in two hours?" Elise asked while getting closer to me.

"Because that is the maximum time allowed by the system for a town to begin the automatic procedure. Normally the persons who got in the city first should open the gate, but..." I trailed off, making it obvious what I wanted to say.

"Well then..." Karima said while getting up. "...Time to get up there, huh?" he said while looking at the ceiling of the dark dungeon.


	8. Second Floor

Chapter 8 – Second Floor

I let out a heavy sigh while running at full speed trough the forest. I do not bother with monsters as I pass them, dodging incoming attacks as I do so. I have the greatest agility stat from us three so it is normal that I am first, but if they stay too much behind they will have to deal with the monsters on my back, and I don't want the in the least. I glance back. Elise is 5 meters behind and Karima 5 more meters after her, though I can see he is at the end of his strenght.

"Come on you two! The «Starting City» is not that far now. If we hurry we might make it in front of everyone else." I shout as I kick a «Little Nepelt» that was in my way, using it to my advantage as it tackled another, making both monsters stumble upon each other, falling to the ground.

"You sure have «Acrobatics» at a pretty high level right now!" I hear Karima yell from behind as he almost falls to the ground, stumbling on a root. I chuckle a little as I know that we are in the area where monsters have the maximum level of 3 so he can't die no matter what. At that moment I get a message bringing with the icon in the corner of my «Avatar» a chime that I heard so many times now. I open the window and move it to the side so that it does not block my vision as I run.

* * *

From: «Argo»  
To: «Shima»  
Subject: The gate has been opened  
Message: Help!

* * *

"Well that is great… but what is with the "Help!" at the end?" I say to myself as I try to run even faster than before. 'The gate has been opened' – that must refer to the teleportation gate in the «Starting City», meaning that Kirito opened the gate after all.

"Hurry up! The gate has been opened! We will get there in 5 minutes!" I shout as loud as I can to the other two. We have to get there among the first so we can continue to level at the current rate. That is the only way to survive now.

"That is great news! Now we will have to fight the crowd when we get there!" Karima shouts as he stumbles once more. "We have to hurry!" He added as he opened his menu and fondled with some options. Is that the skills menu? What is he thinking? But he soon finishes and to my surprise he starts running at an even greater speed, almost managing to pass Elise.

"What did you do?" I hear her yell at him. "I thought you had all of your skill slots full and now you use one for «Sprint»?" She asks in amazement at his idiocy.

"What did yo want me to do?! I would never have even got close to you guys if I didn't use that!" He angility yells at us.

"Hey, Karima!" I shout at him.

"What?!"

"You know that you can't use that sprint of yours for too long, right?" I ask with a teasing smile.

"YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" he yells as he once again gets left behind. This made my day. His expression… priceless.

"Get yourself back together! We are almost there!" I say as I exit the forest and jump right into the tall grass of the plateau at the end of which is the «Starting City».

"This grass is uncomfortable to walk through as heck!" Elise complains as she almost catches me from behind. Now that she did not have the cloak covering her face and hair she was a worthy opponent of the female class. God damn it! I can't even look at her now. I need to see her as man! I must if I don't want to keep my stomach at bay!

"Elise, quick! What did you ate last night?!" I ask immediately making her look at me weird. "Just answer!"

"Three beers and a half-burned steak. Why?" This was the answer I was looking for. The most unfeminine answer I heard for today.

"Just asking…" I mumble to her as I feel my stomach calm down. "Damn it Karima! Run faster!" I shout to my back and as a response I hear a faint yell from way behind me.

"WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK I AM DOING?!"

Me and Elise pass the front gate of the city in no time, just to be faced with an enormous crowd ahead. The players that decided to stay here, in the city. They were out side looking at the center of the town plaza where two words throned on top of the sky. «Town Opening». The usual BGM that the NPC orchestra played was now replaced by some sort of victorious tune. After a while Karima joined us at the end of the crowd.

"Let's get going." I say as I make way through the endless crowd of people. From time to time an NPC shouted about some potions or tailoring, I don't know… mostly because I couldn't hear it very well. The crowd buzzed with satisfaction and hatred, hope and despair alike. It was hard to make it to the teleportation gate but I managed.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I hear a shout behind me belonging to Karima. Startled I go back to see what happened, but to my surprise he seemed to have darted to a place or perhaps someone in the crowd. He returned after about 10 seconds later, dragging with him a female player, one that I didn't knew. Her hair was long and black, but not straight. It waved around, never finding its place. She was shorter than me and Elise, but she was my age or perhaps even older. Her figure was extremely attractive, perhaps because of the color-balance between the red of her shirt and the blackness of her hair. Her deep blue eyes looked at me from head to toes, stopping at my face. Neither her, nor I, moved or even spoked. We were both frozen in place, admiring one another.

"This here…" Karima said, shattering the silence that lasted for an eternity, or merely a couple of seconds. "…Is «Yume». She is the one who gave me that potion I mentioned two days back." This last sentence was perhaps not for me to hear, but to Elise that sat with her back turned to us. "Anyway, I want her to join this party. She is a good fighter, but lacks experience and has no one who she can party with." He continued while patting her head, making her head go down a little every time he did so.

"Sure." I said in an instant and the word shocked me. I just added another one to the group. A female player. But strange enough, I did not seem to mind her that much. I don't know why.

She pressed the blue button indication her acceptance to the party, and another bar appeared under the two that were already there.

"Th-thank you… for the invitation…" She said fidgeting a little as she turned from side to side. It was obvious she did not know what to do in the slightest.

"We are going to the second floor right now." I say as I am once again aware of the crowd around us. "Come on." I shout as I beggin jogging to the gate. The other three members follow me closely and we all reach the center of the plaza. Two stones resembling the base of a gate stood before us on a platform. We got on and followed the example of the players in front of us. After two exact seconds, four shouts made themselves heard over the buzzing of the crowd.

"«Teleport»: «Urbus»"

With a blue light we were transported, just like in the beginning of the announcement, to another gate, this one being at the edge of a city that I did not knew. Here was another crowd, only thiner… much thiner. Around 100 players at most. Most of them should already be on a quest or something. I wonder about that message Argo sent to me… but now is not the time.

"Hey, listen up." I say to the group that is in front of me right now, admiring the landscape. "We will spread on two teams and do a quest each. If it was worth it, announce the other team with a PM. This way we will trade places and no time is wasted." The three pairs of eyes that were aimed at me moved slightly up and then down. "Good. Now, for the teams…" I thought that the best was to keep myself close to Karima today, but a sudden idea struck me. "… I will go with Yume. You both, take care of yourselves." I want to see what was between them that time, but it wouldn't be nice of me to simply ask, no. I will make one of them complain to me about the other. And this way, I can have some fun of my own… I really want to see what Yume can do since she was praised by Karima in such a manner. Now that I think of it, he never praised anyone, or at least I didn't hear him do so, until now.

With another nod we separated in two groups and headed separated directions.

"I will be counting on you for the time being."

"Th-the same." She shutters as she gives a deep bow, making me feel bad for not doing the same.

"You don't need to be so formal. We are party members, right." I say to ease my embarrassment.

"Y-yes." She sais in amazement(I don't know why…) and keeps walking behind me.

"You use a one-handed weapon, is that right?" I ask as I try to get a feel of her stats.

"Y-yes. A longsword…"

"You don't use anything else? Like a shield or something?"

"No… It would get in the way…"

"I see. So I take it your main focus is on agility then?"

"Yes."

"Good. Except for Karima we all have some points in agility. As for me…" I say as I drag my two-handed sword out of its sheath. "… My primary focus is on strength, but I do have quite a lot of points into agility. I use two-handed swords and with that setup I can swing like I would use a one-handed one. I leveled «Acrobatics» and «Two-Handed Swords» to 64 each and I have «Parry» at level 43. I am level 10." I finish my introduction. It felt more like a read from an encyclopedia, really.

"Ha…Hahahaha…" I hear a cute laughter coming from behind me. Yume was laughing so hard I could see tears in the corner of her eyes. I sheath my sword and continue walking in silence while she follows continuing to giggle.

"I never would have expected you to make such an introduction…" She says leaving a sigh escape her lips.

"Well, I tried…" I say in embarrassment.

"Hihi… you are a lot more nicer than I would have expected."

"And how did you imagine I would be?"

Her face gets bright red, but even so she speaks up.

"A lot more scary… and harsh too. That is the impression I had…"

"Ha. I guess so… I get that a lot… " I finish in a mumble as I remember that this was also true while in reality. "Anyway, let's try that quest over there." I say, pointing to an old man who seemed to be looking around for someone.

"Ah! You two! You are travelers, right? Could you help me with something? It's not much, but I will repay your efforts with what I have at hand."

* * *

**Sorry for the short chapter, but I have a lot of work lately and I am tired all the time . I will write more when I can. Next week I will be on vacation so maybe I will have plenty of time to write in peace. Finally!**


	9. Quarrel

She moves her sword, every swing leaving behind a small trail of red, yet it didn't felt like combat. Dancing was a good word to describe it better than anything. She was dancing while slicing her foe apart with each strike. She was dodging in every way possible, feeling more as a step to the side, followed by her partners sloppy movements. As I stood there in amazement, a small chuckle escaped my lips. It felt more like a trainer and her student, Yume mocking her opponent with each of her strikes; each of her dodges. Her eyes were dead serious, her concentration surpassing mine by far. She moved with an accuracy that even the best of players could not match, not even that Kirito. Before I knew it, it was over. The result box appeared in front of her and me alike.

"That was impressive… No, I am wrong… It was amazing." I say to her as she closes the box.

"I-It was n-nothing!" She says while her face turns bright red. "T-That's why I usually f-fight alone!" She exclaims as she looks away from my eyes.

"Well, I just said what I thought." I proclaim as I start walking towards the city. "It is getting dark. We should hurry and finish this quest and find ourselves an inn. "

"Y-Yeah…" she replies in a low voice. "Aren't you going to ask about it… about my movements?" She asks in a sort of depressed way, making it clear she doesn't want to talk about it.

"No. If it isn't necessary, I won't ask." I reply as I move two of my fingers downwards, making the main menu appear, and touching my way to the message menu.

* * *

To: «Karima»

Subject: This was a good one.

The quest gives quite a bit of EXP and the monsters are easy to kill. We'll meet at the nearest inn to the central plaza.

* * *

I will refrain from commenting something on Yume just yet. Maybe he didn't see it, that combat technique. I will keep it from him, only if he says something will I get on this matter. I get a reply shortly afterwards.

* * *

From: «Karima»

To: «Shima»

Subject: Okk

I swear, I will die… and it's all your fault.

* * *

Well, I guess I made someone to complain.

"What does he mean with the dying part?" I hear from my side Yume's voice, her face being awfully close to mine. I instinctively move to the side one meter in a single step.

"I don't know what he meant, but please say something before coming so close. You startled me." I say in one breath. Her face turns red once again as she bows her head to the ground several times in rapid succession.

"I-I am sorry. I am sorry." She repeats after every bow. Please don't make such a cute face… you will make my stomach to empty its contents, I thought as I turn my face around.

"You don't have to apologize." I say, as I continue walking.

"B-But…" She says as she rises her head, looking at me. I swear to god… she is the type to be extremely cute when saddened… I look away from her as I speak in embarrassment.

"I said it is fine! Let's go to meet the others already."

"Y-Yeah…"

–A loud sound of wind.

I move in an instant, dragging my feet to the ground while gasping Yume's hand, pulling her with me down on the grass below us.

–No. I am wrong. That was no wind.

I barely manage to take out my sword out of its sheath just in time to parry the second strike aimed at Yume's neck. Sparks fly out as my sword clashes with what previously appeared to be thin air, but now I can see it. A one-handed sword embossed with a certain golden pattern wielded by a strange creature with the head of a bull, the rest of his body being of human, only its legs being an exception as they are also similar to the ones of a bovine.

"Oi oi oi oi oi! That is a fucking minotaur, is it not?! What is this bastard doing here in the middle of the savanna?!" I shout as I parry its continuous strikes, about three swings in a second. Glancing at my HP I can see that it is steadily decreasing, not by much but enough for me to see it decreasing.

"Yume! This is no time to sit on the ground and admire the taste of grass! I need some help over here! NOW!" I shout at her as my HP enters the yellow area. In the next instant I can feel her body so close to mine I can feel her skin through her clothes as she moves her hand, thrusting forward through the millimetric opening left by the minotaur after he swung its sword at me. The bright red light emanating from the monster's head is signaling a critical hit and that is not all. An icon is displayed on the edge of the minotaur's HP bar, similar to a cloud of smoke… a «Blind» effect. The beast backs away but its grip on the handle of the sword he so relentlessly swung moments ago tightens with a muffled sound. Yume helps me stand up, feeling her body change shape on my back as she did so I am officially sick and at the same time happy. How long has it been since the last time I was hugged by a woman I wonder… two… no, three years.

"Now you did it you little bastard…" I mumble in anger towards the minotaur that gets in a defensive stance. "We are going to flank it from both sides, whoever gets to the chance kills it." I state as I advance with small steps towards the monster. I see her look a little flustered as she glances at my almost red health bar but says nothing, just a nod to confirm my plan. "At my mark. Three." Our steps grow in length. "Two." We move in sync to the sides, me on the right of the beast, she on the left. "One." Both of us press our left leg onto the ground, making small dents into the terrain. "Mark." I finish the countdown, both of us jumping with astonishing speed, getting to our target before it could do anything. I struck the whole lower body of the minotaur, Yume managing to take his neck. In the next second it bursts into thousands of shards having a similar effect as breaking a mirror. I land on the soft grass as the realization that the monster did manage to move and its blade was at less than a centimeter away from my head struck me. That would have sent me to heaven with the fastest escalator that was ever invented. Needless to say that I fainted on the spot, the last thing I remember being the soft voice of Yume calling for me, but I couldn't even hear her words, not to mention replying. Not long after that, the darkness stretched onto my still open eyes, forcing me to fall asleep.

* * *

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" a loud shriek is heard in the whole inn, my room included. I reluctantly open my eyes just to be met with Yume's face that apparently felt asleep on the chair next to my bed. She could keep on sleeping with that yelling? It even woke me up from my «Fainted» state…

"GET THE FUCK OUT! YOU STUPID ESCUSE OF A MAN!" I heard it again, chills going down my spine. I didn't distinguish it at first, but that was a female player that yelled and above all I recognized the voice. This was Elise. I was certain about it. What could have happened… I hope I was not at fault for this…

"Just get out of my sight… NOW!" I heard her voice, way weaker than before. I move to the side, going out of my bed, stepping on the floor with my heavy boots. Now that I think about it, did she carryed me all the way here with my equipment on?

"You really are something else." I whisper to myself as I lay her down onto my bed. This time I did not feel anything from touching her, not even did my consciousness warned me about it. It was just that the feeling of esteem regarding her doings was overwhelming at that moment in time. I opened the door and stepped outside the room. In the hallway was a figure crouched down on its knees, hands made into fists as they rested on the surface of the floor. Her cyan hair waved down until it reached the floor, getting swallowed by her tears that made a small puddle. She was still crying along with small sobs from time to time. So it really did happen outside of the room, that fight. If it was inside of a room the sound should not be heard until someone knocked on the door, making private deals or other sorts of things much safer. Yet, there she was… in a state I didn't saw her at all since we've met. It scared me… that sight. It reminded me of my sister, when she heard about father's death. She would just cry and cry until she felt asleep. She really loved him, yet… I did nothing… as if it was not my problem. I suddenly felt the urge to laugh but I managed to swallow it down. I headed to the opposite side of the hallway, going away from her until I met the window signaling a dead-end. I turned on my heels making a soft noise as my light armor changed directions. I sigh at the thought of what I am about to do and start sprinting. The hallway has about 50 meters, half of it I made in under one second, then I jumped as high as I could, hitting my head on the ceiling and bouncing back onto the floor, my body making impossible moves in mid-air in front of Elise that watched me with an amazed look, not managing to keep crying anymore.

"God dammit! That last one was a critical hit!" I yell getting up from the floor and facing Elise. She started laughing and didn't's stop until I started to ignore her sarcastic remarks regarding my 'performance'.

"Thank you." She said with a small smile. "Now I guess I owe you one." She continued in a chuckle.

"You bet! Half of my HP went to the gutter for that stunt!" I say flustered. "Want to go down?" I ask but she shakes her head.

"No. I won't go there just yet… " She answered as she made her way to her room. "See you later." She said while closing the door, letting me see that her expression was getting worse once again. I didn't had the force to say something to her this time, so I just waved. Karima must be downstairs. This is what my gut was telling me along with him as being the reason she was this way. I shove my foot into the wall next to me, making the words [Immortal Object] appear. My group is breaking down… and it is my fault. If just I didn't made the groups this way, maybe I could have avoided this.

"Dammit!" I shout as I hit with my fist the wall once more, this time also making the system tell me this object could not be broken. Why am I so… so… I sigh all of a sudden. Is it because of 'that'? 'That' is making me disregard people like this? "Damn… damn it all!" I manage to say in just a whisper as I start walking downwards onto the stairway leading to the main hall.

"I really did it this time." I hear Karima's voice as soon as I get down. He was sitting on a chair with his face into the palm of his hands. "I trully am a despicable human." He says sighing as he upped his eyes to the ceiling.

"What did you do?" I ask him, tracks of my anger still lingering in my voice. He moved his eyes to me and smiled.

"I said what I thought… no, perhaps even more than that. Yes, yes." He laughs at his words, turning his face to the floor. "I must do something about it…" He continues, getting up from his chair and starts going outside, not minding me even one bit.

"What CAN I do?" I say in silence as I hear the door to the inn closing behind Karima. I have no idea what I should be doing now, or how. I guess I should sleep to pass the night… wait. I just put Yume in my bed… so, where do I sleep? The chair it is then…

* * *

**[-Elise-]**

"Dammit!" I hear him as he punches the wall next to my room. I must have worried him… that Shima… he really is a caring guy. My lips turn into a weak smile as I go towards my bed. I lay with my face into the pillow as I open the main menu, getting rid of my equipment and clothes, remaining in only my underwear. I move my hand to my foot, slowly reaching to the base of the knee afterwards while tracing my skin. I slowly curl into a ball, hugging both of my legs while my tears start to flow once more, his words still flowing through my head.

"How are even alive?! I get it now! You are a monster like those who killed thousands of our kind, right?. You don't feel pain, not even sympathy, not to mention humanity! Or are just another NPC passing by from town to town, screwing up everyone on the way? You watched me getting killed and you didn't help me at all! If you are not with us, then go with them! Hey…"

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" I screamed, tears flowing out of my eyes.

"How am I an idiot? Have I left someone to die and got away? Then why were you the one who pointed your weapon at me earlyer? Do you feel superior to us, humans, you monster?!"

"GET THE FUCK OUT! YOU STUPID ESCUSE OF A MAN!" I yelled at him as I get on my knees, my crying making it harder and harder to breathe.

"I didn't…"

"Just get out of my sight… NOW!" I finally manage to shout as I sat on the cold floor. Now that I look at it he was right… I let him die and I got away when I could have helped him. I truly am despicable. I sometimes wonder why I am alive, like he said earlier. Do I have a purpose or do I occupy the space in vain. Every time I think of it, the latter pops up first into my head, at least this was in reality. Here even someone like me can help. I have decided. My goal is to reach the last floor of this game, even if I have to deal with… with…

"But I still am a simple girl… dammit…" I say as I hug myself even tighter. As I tried to cry myself to sleep I hear a faint knocking, not on the door, but on the window. I put a piece of clothing on me and opened it.

"Yo." Was the first thing Karima said to me as he sat on the edge of the rooftop. "Want some?" he continued as he showed me a bottle of something. "It has the same taste as sake, but it cannot make you drunk, like everything in this game." He said with a sad look on his face. I nod, making him smile and leaning his hand so I could grab on to him in an attempt to reach the roof as well. I did so and in a mighty swing I land right next to him, my bare feet sensing the coldness of the steel surface he was standing on. He gave me another bottle than the one he was holding as he kept drinking.

"I am sorry, for getting all worked up with this little thing." He said facing the ground. "I probably put all my anger and fear I holed in me at that moment, not really wanting to hurt you or anything. AAAAH! I am such a looser for making a girl cry like that!" I laugh at his statement as he, himself, starts laughing.

"I… I really thought you hated me to death now." I say as a lone tear makes its way down on my cheek.

"How could I possibly hate someone in the same boat as me? I was just an idiot… just like you said. I really can't believe I actually did that… Afterwards I wanted to hang myself or drink myself into a coma, both being practically impossible, not even the first one if you don't have help." He continues letting out a sigh. "… but, I met someone on my way out who made me think clearly again." His smile getting wider as he spoke.

"Shima?"

"No. It was Yuki."

"That short, mute guy?"

"He isn't… forget it. He made me realize that I was wrong, that even if you did what you did… you may have your… circumstances, as well as I have mine." He finished, his face getting red from embarrassment.

"About that… I am sorry… If only I helped you back then…" I started to say but he stopped me.

"Your health was red that time, was it not? If you helped me you could have died, and that I could not as easily forget." He stared in a serous tone. "Let's keep working together from now on." He continues as he shows me the palm of his hand. I grab it with mine and shake it.

"Yeah." I answer, tears making their way down on my face, but this time those were not tears of sadness. They were tears of joy.


End file.
